Wed, 02/17/2010 – 07:43 byThere’s a nice summary (and video) of Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya’s speech at the Mobile World Congress (via TechCrunch) in which he discusses Facebook mobile growth and engagement and makes a pitch to work with carriers. Facebook says it already has relationships with 200 carriers globally (compare to Yahoo, which says it works with roughly 80 but with the potential reach of 800 million). Here are some quick facts from the talk:

• 100 million active (daily) mobile users
• 200 million (50%) of Facebook’s users have used or accessed it on mobile devices
• Mobile Facebook users are twice as engaged as PC users

Palihapitiya pitched carriers on the idea that Facebook would help them grow data revenues. Facebook’s mobile usage and growth are nothing short of amazing. But let’s talk about what may be coming sooner rather than later: Facebook as a mobile ad network and one that offers location (and potentially demographics) as part of that proposition. There are currently no ads on Facebook’s apps, mobile websites or SMS. I would almost bet my life that’s going to change in the near-to-medium term. Facebook will be clever and careful about integrating advertising into mobile, mindful of the potential to alienate mobile users. However the mobile ad opportunity may be at least as big for Facebook as it is on the PC. Facebook is about to make $1 billion in ads on the PC; however neither I nor anyone I know pays attention to and/or clicks on them. However I do hear from marketers anecdotally that Facebook ad targeting does work. But offers and mobile advertising from SMBs and brands tied to location is a potentially huge opportunity for the company. I think it’s just a matter of time before we see Facebook start to roll out an offering. And, on arrival, the company would be as large or larger than any existing mobile ad network.