Opera Mini Arrives in Bangladesh at Grameenphone

Norwegian software giant Opera has just announced a partnership with Grameenphone, the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh, for the release of a specific version of the Opera Mini browser, optimized for the carrier's users.

The Opera Mini mobile browser is the most popular such application in the world, compatible with a number of more than 3000 different handset models, including basic feature phones to high-end smartphones.

The browser includes a special compression technology through which pages are compressed by up to 90 per cent before being sent to the mobile phone.

Thus, users benefit from faster loading of webpages, and also from decreased data usage, which should prove very useful when they are on pay-as-you-go plans.

“Since inception, our focus has been to empower each and every citizen of Bangladesh with mobile telephony. We pride ourselves on the fact that Grameenphone is the only operator to cover 99 per cent of the country’s people with network,” Arild Kaale, Chief Marketing Officer, Grameenphone, explains.

“We trust Opera’s mobile web technology and are delighted to announce the launch of a customized version of Opera Mini for our users. We encourage Grameenphone users to download this efficient browser and enjoy the beautiful world of the Internet on their mobile devices.”

Grameenphone's network is EDGE/GPRS enabled, and has a number of over two million of users who are active Internet subscribers.

The carrier partnered with Opera for the released of this special flavor of Opera Mini, which should stimulate the rapid growth of mobile Internet services across Telenor’s business units (The Telenor Group is the majority shareholder of Grameenphone).

The new, co-branded version of the Opera Mini browser has been customized to fit the needs of the local market, the two companies explain.

“Access to the Web should not be limited to the privileged few. For a majority of mobile telephony users in emerging markets, a mobile handset may turn out to be the primary way of accessing the Internet,” Lars Boilesen, Chief Executive Officer, Opera Software, stated.

“The technology behind the Opera Mini browser is best suited for such markets, where EDGE/GPRS are widely used. We have worked hard to ensure that Opera Mini is able to run on a wide range of mobile devices, providing users with a rich browsing experience.”

Users interested in the new Opera Mini version should SMS “Opera” to 5000. The browser would arrive with free data services for one week for Grameenphone's customers.