Opera and Mxit Team Up to Offer Opera Mini Browser in Africa

Opera Software and Mxit, one of the popular mobile social platforms in Africa, have just announced a partnership to offer the Opera Mini Browser to users in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.

Mxit is an online mobile instant messenger and social network, which is available as free download directly from the handset and supports more than 3000 mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and iPhone.

Under agreement, those who use Opera's mobile browser in the African countries mentioned above will be provided with quick one-click access to Mxit services, while Mxit users will be offered a new browsing experience via the Opera Mini Browser.

The browser will now appear under the Apps menu and will be accessible through the Mxit chat client, whereas Mxit will be introduced on the Opera Mini start page.

“Mxit and Opera Mini are hugely popular in South Africa, and this partnership will provide consumers with easy access to South Africa’s favourite web services,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software.

Given the fact that Mxit exclusively uses the Internet for its services, it does not require any fees for the sending and receiving of multimedia messages to and from mobile phones and PCs.

According to Mxit, the mobile social platform has more than 45 million registered users worldwide, but most of them are located in Africa.

“Mxit empowers African people by helping them build community and make money via their mobile phones. We believe the alliance with Opera will bring us a step closer to fulfilling that vision,” added Alan Knott Craig, Mxit CEO.

African Mxit users will be able to take advantage of several Opera browser for desktop features, which are now included within the Opera Mini, such as password manager, bookmarks, tabbed browsing and the popular “Speed Dial”.