Airtel Inks Global Deal With Opera

Bharti Airtel, an integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, has announced that it has signed a global arrangement with Opera Software to offer a customised and co-branded version of Opera Mini internet browser for Airtel mobile customers across its operations. With this, over 253 million Airtel customers across countries including India, South Asia and Africa will now be able to leverage Opera Mini’s unique proxy-server-based technology.

Opera Mini provides remarkably fast browsing on nearly any mobile phone. It is proven to make browsing up to nine times as fast as client-only mobile browsers on both 2/2.5G and 3G networks. With its small footprint and high level of usability, Opera Mini provides a consistent user experience across a broad range of handsets.

“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 customised, enhanced and optimised browsing experience for our data users,” said 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 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."