MTN boosts African Opera Mini users

27 Feb 2012

A special version of the Opera Mini mobile web browser, launched by MTN and Opera Software last year to MTN's subscribers, has been met with great enthusiasm by MTN customers across the 15 markets where it's available. In just twelve months, MTN subscribers have increased their use of Opera Mini by 1665%.

Opera Mini has seen a phenomenal uptake since launch, with customers in South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cyprus, Liberia, Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, Liberia, Zambia and Benin showing an appetite for the smart tool. As of January 2012, MTN customers in Zambia averaged 772 webpages per month through Opera Mini.

The introduction of customised versions of Opera Mini has strengthened MTN's small-screen strategy to take customers' mobile web experience to the next level. The collaboration with Opera Software also provides MTN subscribers with a more affordable, user-friendly and faster mobile web experience.

"This growth is awesome," says Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software. "Nigeria is particularly exciting for us; it now ranks fourth in the world among Opera Mini users. In January, our Nigerian MTN Opera Mini users alone accessed more than 766 million pages equaling 11.4 terabytes of data, which is compressed by up to 90% through our Opera servers. That's a whole lot of love for the mobile web and, given the websites Nigerians visit most frequently, participation on a global level is something they value."

It is reported that Nigerians are most likely to visit global sites like Google, Facebook and BBC News on their mobile phones, followed by local ones, including a popular soccer site.

MTN Group chief commercial officer, Christian de Faria, says, "By using Opera Mini, our customers get the most out of the web, while getting one-click access to MTN content portals via their Opera Mini start page. This way, MTN subscribers can reach the content they want, with less frustration and less expense."