Airtel-Opera sign pact; users to get customised browsers on phones

Bharti Airtel has entered into a global agreement with Opera Software, creator of the popular mobile browser Opera Mini. Now Bharti Airtel customers will get access to a customised version of Opera’s Internet browser on their mobile phones.

Under the pact, Airtel will offer co-branded Opera Mini browsers to its customers across India and South Asia, the companies said in a joint statement today.

“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,” Bharti Airtel President - Consumer Business K Srinivas said.

Airtel, the nation’s largest private-sector telecom player, has over 253 million customers across countries, including India, South Asia and Africa.

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Opera Mini’s unique proxy-server-based technology can compress data by up to 90 percent and decrease user’s data transfer costs, the statement said.

“Our primary drive is to provide the best user experience, no matter what device people use. There aremillions of users with basic mobile phones instead of smartphones, and Opera Mini gives even the most basic phone a smartphone-like web experience,” Opera Software CEO Lars Boilesen said.

Opera Software has agreements with 13 out of the top 30 operators globally and its Opera Mini browser is used by over 168 million users, the statement added.

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Opera’s collaboration comes soon after the Norwegian firm announced Opera Mini 7 a special browser for feature phones and BlackBerry users on Sunday. The new browser supports phones with the Jave Platform Mini Edition (J2ME) platforms and Symbian’s S60 which is Nokia’s OS. Mini 7 also has a Smart Page function which allows users to access to social media via their feature phones.

Opera Mini has more than 140 million users worldwide , with much of the growth coming from India, Indonesia, Russia, China and Brazil. The browser has more than a million users in 22 countries around the world.

With inputs from PTI