Idea becomes the first network in South Asia to launch Sponsored Opera Web Pass in association with Quikr

Mobile operator Idea Cellular and Opera software have joined hands with online mobile classifieds portal to offer sponsored mobile data through Sponsored Opera Web Passes for over 137 million Idea customers in India. The partnership is aimed at enabling more Indians to get online and experience the power of the Internet on their mobile phones, the first such initiative in South Asia. A web pass is a great alternative to monthly data plans for consumers who do not require full-time Internet access. Opera partnered with Idea earlier this year to bring this innovative solution to Opera Mini users in India. This solution provides affordable Internet packages, tailor-made to enable Idea subscribers to enjoy Internet access for particular timelines or websites, such as Facebook access for a day or Internet access for an hour at just Re.1.

With Sponsored Opera Web Pass, Idea subscribers will enjoy Internet on their mobile phones, sponsored by Quikr. To get sponsored web access, Idea users just need to open Opera Mini and click the “Idea Web Pass” Speed Dial entry, then select the “Free Internet by Quikr (10 MB)” web pass option. From there, users will be able to enjoy 10 MB of sponsored Internet access on their mobile phones for an entire day.

Vodafone, Idea, Airtel and Telenor had tied-up with Opera to launch Web Pass earlier in February this year. Such plans helps people who do not need full-time Internet access. Internet packages that are otherwise available include a Daily Internet Pass for Rs 8, a weekly Facebook Pass for Rs 7 and a Weekly Internet Pass for Rs 30. This is not the first product launched by Opera to reduce data charges for users. It had introduced Opera Max, an Android application that compresses data across applications on mobile devices to help save data earlier this year.