CANADA — Jim Johannsson is confident that Canadians enjoy indulging in their sensual side when online. More to the point for his profession, the spokesman for telecommunications company Telus Corp. is confident that this interest extends to handheld content viewed on a cell phone screen.”There is a segment of the population that is interested in that content,” he told the National Post recently, referring to customer use studies that showed a definite tendency for subscribers to visit adult sites on their browser-enabled phones.

Because of this, on January 8th Telus has become one of the first — if not the first — provider to offer pay-per-download adult content to its Canadian cell phone customers.

Subscribers can download saucy photos and videos for a price ranging between $3 and $4 per selection.

“We’ve introduced — in a very responsible way — adult content that’s in behind proper age verification and that’s compliant with provincial standards and regulations,” he explained.

Johannsson doesn’t expect his company’s leading edge to last very long, however. With US $400 million worth of downloaded cell phone smut during 2004, it’s a sure thing Telus’ competitors want a piece of that pie. Although reps at Rogers Communications were cagy about saying anything “ahead of time” about the matter, Bell Canada’s currently all-age content service provider admitted that “we continually review a range of potential services,” and assured Charged magazine that it will “always remain competitive in our markets.”

Given that the unspeakably lucrative segment of cell phone content isn’t “the kind of thing people advertise,” as Johannsson points out, it may be difficult to determine precisely what companies plan to enter the market or when they plan to do it, but Johannsson is certain that if other companies haven’t already begun introducing adult services, “they will soon. Same in the U.S.”