Vodafone Group, the world''s largest mobile phone operator, will extend an application billing deal with Google's Android system across all its markets to regain lost ground in additional data services, says a blooberg report.. "We've done a deal that covers the global footprint," Tobin Ireland, Vodafone's commercial development director, said in an interview. The company, which also held talks with Microsoft about its Windows Phone 7 mobile-phone system, aims to get deals with all application stores, he said.

Vodafone last week unveiled plans to enable payments for Android online services through its own billing system in the UK and Germany, allowing clients to pay for applications for everything from music, restaurants and games, to the weather and news, without entering credit card details with Google.

Operators are aiming to drive sales from additional services and boost smartphone sales after they lost the battle for online app stores to Apple and Google. The worldwide market for games, entertainment and workplace tools for mobile devices may balloon to $40 billion by 2014, compared with $14.3 billion in 2010.

"They are rapidly appreciating that it is the basic connectivity and getting punters to pay up for the amount of data that they consume which is the real growth sector ," said Morten Singleton, an analyst at Investec Securities in London.