Orange Botswana and Opera sign deal to bring Opera Mini to subscribers
Orange in Botswana, Africa, and Opera Software are set to provide the Opera Mini web browser to Orange's mobile customers in the country, giving faster and less expensive web access through cell phones and tablets.
Like most African countries, most people in Botswana do not have access to fixed line internet, so a mobile device will be their first, and often only, way to access the internet. Yet, Botswanans love the web and their current favourite mobile sites which are Facebook, Google, YouTube, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Waptrick, Twitter, Blogger, BBC News, Dictionary.com and Answers.com, according to Orange.
Orange, which is committed to providing web access everywhere in the country, and Opera will provide a co-branded version of Opera Mini to Orange's customers in Botswana, numbering more than one million. Orange customers will also be able to access a range of Orange portals, with a single click on Opera Mini's Speed Dial, found on the browser home page.
Opera Mini works on more than 3,000 devices and compresses data by up to 90% before it reaches consumers, giving users a fast and powerful mobile web experience.
'The compression ability offered by Opera Mini means we can make better use of existing infrastructure while offering a lower cost and quicker web access to our mobile subscribers,' said Lebogang Moruti, offers and services manager for marketing at Orange Botswana. 'We anticipate our launch of the co-branded Opera Mini will be met with high demand by our customers.'
Added Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software: 'Our offering is strong, particularly on basic phones in Botswana. We have worked hard as a company to provide a very smart mobile web experience even on old handsets. We have already seen strong growth in Botswana over the years, and this new relationship with Orange will see that develop even further.'
Orange Botswana is the second Orange operation in Africa to have chosen Opera Mini, following Orange Ivory Coast.
