Laurence Alexander (Right) has join ROK  Entertainment Group as CEO. This is something of a coup for the specialist mobile TV and applications development company; Alexander has an impressive CV, including stints as MD of the BT Cellnet subsidiary Genie and a long spell at O2 (President of O2 Asia Pacific, responsible for delivering the Blackberry to the UK market, managing O2’s sponsorship of the World Cup-winning England Rugby Team). Latterly he has been CEO of handset manufacturer Emblaze Mobile.

Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman and founder of ROK Entertainment Group, called Alexander “a highly respected player in the mobile industry with a proven track record of success” and promised that “he will bring renewed dynamism and focus to the already rapid deployment of our mobile technologies worldwide”.

ROK is in the midst of its plans to deploy more than 30 on-demand mobile TV services streamed over existing mobile networks with selected operators worldwide by the end of this year.

Alexander now joins the board of ROK just as the company goes for its IPO – hitherto ROK, which was formed in 2003, has been privately financed. ROK has filed more than 40 patent applications for a suite of mobile technologies it has developed ranging from unicast mobile TV streamed over 2.5G, 3G and WiFi networks through to content-loaded memory cards and mobile VoIP and content applications.

An interesting example has just been launched – a comics division that provides the opportunity for publishers and creators offer Pay Per Download or MMS subscriptions to comic. Creators publishing via ROK Comics will receive 50% of the available revenue on every sale. There’s also a Flash-based DIY web service enabling anyone to create comic strips using their own photos.

‘The mobile phone is the perfect delivery vehicle for comics. The back lighting provides incredible vibrancy and the MMS presentation format we have chosen works across almost all phones and network operators,’ said ROK Comics managing editor, John Freeman.