Sports photo agency Empics has set up a pioneering system to enable instant delivery of pictures to sports fans with mobile phones or Internet access.

The company's New Media Stills Production initiative can provide photos to websites or mobile phones in only 20 seconds from the moment the picture is taken to when it appears.

This is substantially faster than the expected five to eight minutes normally taken to deliver images to picture desks, where they require further processing and onward dispatch.

The process has been developed over the last two years with the help of some of sport's biggest names, and has been successfully tested at FA Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Football League matches. Most recently, this summer it was used at cricket's Twenty20 Cup and The Open Golf Championship.

Empics chief executive Phil O'Brien said: "Our new NMSP technology dramatically speeds up the process of delivering photos to websites and mobile phones.

"Pictures taken by top sports photographers will now be available to fans in seconds as the action happens - rather than having to wait for the next day's newspapers."

NMSP uses a wireless network at the sports event to transmit pictures from the photographers' digital cameras to the online editor, who then selects the best images. These are then transmitted to the EMPICS offices, from where they are sent on to websites and mobile phones.

All the stages of this detailed process have been streamlined to deliver pictures in only 20 seconds. In some cases, Empics has to deliberately slow the process down for websites with audio, as the audio is delivered 40 seconds after the action. The service is compatible with any WAP picture phone, and does not require a 3G handset. It can also be used to send photos to mobile phones using picture messaging, or Multimedia Message Services.

The process has been developed so that it can be used at any event, such as concerts, other entertainment events, and conferences and the company also intends to franchise the system to interested parties in the UK and internationally from the end of this year.

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