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Oslo, Norway – March 2, 2011

A special version of Opera Mini for Vodafone is available for Russian MTS mobile operator subscribers who can now get one-click access to a wide range of their favorite web resources.

Using the MTS Internet with the Opera Mini browser, MTS customers are able to add up to 30 of their favorite pages to Speed Dial and open them with just a quick tap. This feature expands the capabilities of the regular version of Opera Mini by adding 21 new Speed Dial buttons. In coming months, MTS Internet with Opera Mini will also enable a wide range of widgets to make access to popular resources such as Facebook, Twitter and MTS’s Omlet portal even easier.

MTS Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Mikhail Gerchuk, said: “We are pleased that our partnership with Vodafone brings us the opportunity to offer unique services to our subscribers. The Opera Mini browser is very popular in Russia, with more than four million MTS customers every month using it to surf the Internet. The launch of the new browser moves our partnership with Opera to the next level. With the customized Opera Mini’s added capability, we can turn a budget handset model with limited functions into a very capable Internet browsing device. We are confident that our subscribers will get a richer and more convenient mobile Internet experience with the MTS Internet with Opera Mini browser.”

The special version of the Opera Mini browser was specifically developed and designed by Opera for Vodafone. The two companies launched a global partnership in 2009, involving the development and distribution of customized Opera Mini browsers for Vodafone handset users across Europe, Asia and Africa. MTS is introducing this special service to its customers as a part of its own partnership agreement with Vodafone.

Lars Boilesen, Chief Executive Officer, Opera Software, commented: “Partnering with market leaders such as Vodafone and MTS brings new ideas to our product. MTS Internet with Opera Mini makes it easier to get instant access to a wide range of websites people surf every day. We look forward to making the web lives of MTS subscribers easier with our innovations, to make mobile web usage as easy as turning the pages of a daily newspaper.”

Added Cenk Serdar, Data & Communications Services Director, Vodafone: “We are excited to bring Vodafone Internet by Opera Mini to MTS Russia. Our version delivers relevant new features such as widgets and the ability for MTS subscribers to purchase mobile content with ease. We’re proud to work with MTS Russia and look forward to ensuring a successful campaign that delights their customers.”

More than 70% of Russians who surf the Web on their phones use Opera Mini (based on data from statistics provider StatCounter). Opera uses compression technology that reduces traffic by up to 90%, enabling mobile operators to optimize investments in infrastructure and use network capacity more efficiently. The technology also enables webpages to download up to six times faster than a regular browser, thereby significantly reducing costs for mobile Internet users.

MTS’s subscribers can download the special Opera Mini browser free of charge directly on their mobile phones from m.opera.com.