Opera Software today announced its further expansion into the Asia Pacific (APAC) region with the opening of a regional head office in Singapore. The new office will be home to Opera’s operator and advertising business, technical support, and marketing activities across the region. It will act as a hub for Opera’s operations in Asia Pacific, including greater China, Korea and Southeast Asian countries.
Known for bringing innovations to the browser industry for more than 17 years, Opera browsers are now used by over 300 million people in the world each month. The company offers sophisticated browser products that adapt to the needs of different markets and a wide range of connected devices. Opera is also a driver of connecting people to the internet, especially for mobile-only consumers in Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia, India, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The company has partnered with 17 top-tier mobile operators in Asia, rolling out co-branded Opera Mini browsers with competitive data plans to bring more people online through their mobile phones.
The Opera Singapore office will be led by Fabrizio Caruso, Opera Software’s Senior Vice President for Asia. His responsibilities include working with operators and brand advertisers to help them reach more mobile internet users, as well as developing Opera’s advertising business in Asian markets.
“Asia is the most dynamic and thriving mobile market in the world, and there are tremendous opportunities for operators and brands to reach and engage consumers through mobile devices,” says Fabrizio Caruso. “With people spending more time accessing the internet on their phones, mobile advertising is the field that marketing agencies, publishers and operators are increasingly looking into. It no longer means sending intrusive and irrelevant ads to a consumer’s phone; instead, it’s about reaching the relevant audience and the ability to track results through various mobile content, such as websites, apps, mobile app stores and even the browser itself. We plan to use our Singapore office as a hub to fuel the mobile internet and advertising economy in APAC.”
Opera Software’s business has been expanded to the recent launch of its fully-owned subsidiary Opera Mediaworks, the world’s largest mobile ad platform that provides end-to-end mobile advertising and monetization services to brands, agencies, publishers and operators across the globe. The company is now able to generate more than 60 billion monthly impressions through 13,000+ sites and apps, reaching more than 300 million mobile consumers.
“Opera has offices in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan to provide client support and grow our user base. In addition to these four countries in Asia, we have seen huge growth of our operator business in APAC recent years. It makes sense for us to also have an office in Singapore so that we can offer quicker support to our partners,” says Tove Selnes, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Opera Software. “Singapore offers a business-friendly environment, and its strategic geographical location is perfect for Opera a regional base to expand its Asia-Pacific presence.”
With the opening of the Singapore office, Opera now has a total of 17 offices around the world. The company has over 900 employees worldwide.