Nokia Oyj said on Tuesday it has agreed with the world's largest music group Universal to offer free 12-month access to Universal artists' music for buyers of Nokia's music phones.

Nokia has signed up Universal Music Group International, owned by French media giant Vivendi, for its new "Comes With Music" offering and is eyeing similar deals with other labels before the offer starts in the second half of 2008.

Nokia said the new offering would differ from other packages on the market as consumers can keep all the music they have downloaded for free during the 12 month period.