14 DAY TRIAL // On Wednesday, Opera and Bharti Airtel, the leading integrated telecommunications company that offers services in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, announced an agreement to put Opera Mini on the carrier’s handsets.
As part of this agreement, a co-branded flavor of the mobile browser will become available for Airtel mobile customers across its operations.
The browser will be able to provide Internet navigation capabilities to over 253 million Airtel customers across countries including India, South Asia and Africa, the two companies announced.
Opera Mini is expected to prove a great option for all these users, courtesy of its unique proxy-server-based technology that enables it to compress data by up to 90 percent before sending it to the phone.
“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,” said K Srinivas, president – consumer business, Bharti Airtel.
“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.”
Opera Mini will offer great browsing to users on a wide range of devices, and it is capable of offering up to nine times faster navigation speeds on 2/2.5G and 3G networks when compared to client-only mobile browsers.
Moreover, the application can deliver a consistent experience to users across devices, offering a small footprint and increased usability, and featuring capabilities similar to those available for desktop users.
“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 welcome 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."
Opera Mini is already available for the owners of devices on the networks of 13 out of the top 30 operators globally. According to latest data from Opera, the mobile browser has over 168 million users.