Oslo, Norway, and New Delhi, India, 6 June, 2012: The 'open' browser, Opera announced another partner this week -- Bharti Airtel.
Airtel has signed a global arrangement with Opera Software to offer a customized and co-branded version of Opera Mini internet browser for Airtel mobile customers across its operationsin 20 countries. Over 253 million Airtel customers across countries including India, South Asia and Africa will now be able to leverage Opera Mini’s proxy-server-based technology to compress data by up to 90% and decrease their data transfer costs.
Also from this week, BlackBerry users can go directly to App World http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/43001/ and download the Opera Mini 6.5 browser.
“We are excited to bring a superior browsing platform to Airtel mobile customers across India and South Asia by leveraging Opera Mini’s tried-and-tested set of solutions. We are confident that this association will be instrumental in helping us deliver a truly customized, enhanced and optimized browsing experience for our data users”, says K Srinivas, President – Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel.
“Our primary drive is to provide the best user experience, no matter what device people use. There are millions of users with basic mobile phones instead of smartphones, and Opera Mini gives even the most basic phone a smartphone-like web experience,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “We are happy to welc ome Airtel into our partner community. Airtel's strong presence in emerging markets, combined with Opera Mini's technology, will make the mobile web available to millions of new users."
Download Opera Mini from m.opera.com or visit the Airtel App Store.
Earlier this year, Opera became available on Blackberry phones
"BlackBerry is ranked among top 5 mobile phone brands in India. We are thrilled to extend the Opera Mini experience through the BlackBerry App World”, said Sunil Kamath, Sales Director for India & SAARC, Opera Software. "India has emerged as the second largest user base of Opera Mini users. This growth is clearly fueled by the shift in mobile usage pattern from enjoying basic features to getting online by using apps such a mobile browsers on smartphones."
BlackBerry App World is available in more than 100 countries.
Used by over 68 million users, Opera Mini is the world's most popular web browser on mobile phones.