Opera Software has signed a global deal with Bharti Airtel. The agreement will see a customised and co-branded version of the Opera Mini browser made available to Airtel customers in 17 African countries (as well as across India and South Asia).
Opera Mini currently has 168 million users worldwide, and uses unique proxy-server-based technology to compress data in order to shrink the pages before they are delivered, while still retaining the functionality of a normal Web page.
Opera CEO Lars Boilesen says Airtel's presence in emerging markets, combined with Opera's compression technology, will help make the mobile Web available to millions of new 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,” says Boilesen.
Chief marketing officer for Airtel Africa, Andre Beyers, says: “In today's African markets, data services are quickly becoming as important to our customers as voice services.
“By leveraging Opera's tried-and-tested set of solutions that lead to consistent and full Web user experience, we are excited to provide a superior browsing platform to Airtel mobile customers in 17 countries of our operations in Africa.”
One Web
According to Opera Software, it has agreements with 13 out of the top 30 operators globally. The browser maker also has partnerships with cellphone manufacturers, such as Mi-Fone, which specialises in creating inexpensive handsets designed specifically for the African market.
“We are passionate about breaking down barriers, so everyone can share in the power of the Internet. Our vision of one Web for all remains at the heart of what we do, because we believe that participation changes everything,” says Opera.
Opera recently released an updated version of its mobile browser, Opera Mini 7. The browser now features a “Smart Page”, which provides a one-page summary of the user's social feeds - including Facebook and Twitter. The Smart Page is available on both feature and smartphones.
Last week, Opera's share price went up by as much as 26% on the back of rumours that Facebook was looking into acquiring the Norwegian company. The social networking giant is rumoured to be working on creating its own smartphone, and Opera could potentially provide Facebook with its own browser platform. Both Facebook and Opera have refused to comment on the rumours.
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