A Spanish-language mobile social networking service will soon be available for cell phone users - and advertisers - throughout the country.

Starting next week, in partnership with U.S. cell phone networks such as Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon, Conexion Latina will go online, reports BrandWeek. The service, known by different names depending on the mobile network, will enable subscribers to instant-message, blog and share photographs from a cell phone, in Spanish. The effort is a venture by Canadian mobile software company AirG. American Express, Dunkin Donuts, Mercedes and Schick are among sponsors that have paid for banner ads on the AirG application.

AirG founder and director Frederick Ghahramani said the service is an opportunity to reach a valuable demographic via a growing medium. Some 10 percent of AirG's 10 million subscribers are self-identified speakers of Spanish - the fastest growing segment. Moreover, those "who power America don't sit in front of a computer," he is quoted as saying.

For them, the cell phone is "kind of a PC replacement," a more convenient and less expensive way of connecting with friends and advertisers.