Opera Software and the Russian federal mobile operator MegaFon signed an agreement under which MegaFon’s special package “Unlimited Internet with Opera Mini” will be distributed to all Russian territories. It means that more than 53 million Russian mobile subscribers will have access to the mobile web without traffic counting.
MegaFon is said to be the leader of mobile Internet in Russia, serving 39 percent of mobile web traffic, according to ComNews Research. In September 2009, MegaFon chose Opera Mini as the means to provide unlimited mobile web access in the Moscow region for just 7 roubles (0.18 EUR) per day. The dramatic user growth seen as the result of the “Unlimited Internet with Opera Mini” plan persuaded MegaFon to provide this package in all Russian regions in their coverage area. Ural and Siberia were the next areas to gain access to fast and cost-effective mobile web via Opera Mini after Moscow. The remaining regions will gain access from June 2010.
“According to our statistics, the traffic amount generated by an Opera Mini subscriber is twice more than any other MegaFon user generates,” said Aleksey Ivlev, Head of new products and services, OJSC MegaFon. “This package got great interest, and the number of Opera Mini package unique users increase by 10-15 percent monthly”.
“Opera Mini helps mobile operators to build an active mobile web user community and to make them loyal,” said Mikhail Ilin, Sales Director of Opera Software, Russia and CIS. “Keeping in mind the popularity of Opera Mini browser in the Russian-speaking Internet segment, we expect a significant growth in user numbers.”
Opera Mini is claimed to be the most popular browser for mobile phones in Russia, with the highest market share. Opera Mini compresses data up to 90 percent, resulting in cost savings and increased speed, even while surfing with low-end mobile handsets, it says.