CeBIT, Hannover, Germany – March 14, 2006
debitel and Opera Software today announced a long-term partnership to grow the market for mobileWeb browsing in Europe. As Europe’s largest network-independenttelecommunications service provider, third largest mobile phone serviceprovider and market leader among value-added service providers inGermany, debitel will utilize Opera’s full mobile product portfolioconsisting of Opera Mobileâ„¢, Opera Miniâ„¢ and Opera Platformâ„¢, to delivermobile Web access and Web applications to its customers.
This year, the two companies plan to launch customized Opera mobilebrowsers across debitel’s device portfolio, providing subscribers withfull access to their favorite sites, e-mail and other Web-basedservices. Customized versions of Opera will be pre-installed on debitelhandsets or can be downloaded directly by the end-user.
“Our partnership with Opera enables our customers do a lot more withtheir phones than they can today,” says Martin Witt, head of productmanagement, debitel. “Internet surfing from mobile devices isincreasingly popular and with Opera’s powerful mobile products we canoffer Web access on our entire device portfolio ranging from advancedsmartphones to the most popular feature phones”.
In addition to Opera’s browsers, debitel will shortly offerstate-of-the-art Web applications, or widgets, by launching OperaPlatform. With Opera Platform, debitel’s partners can quickly andaffordably create advanced, AJAX-based Web applications that give usersinstant access to online resources such as news headlines, weatherforecasts, e-mails, sports results, auction bidding status, or even busschedules.
“We are excited to be working with debitel, a leading telecommunicationscompany, to roll out a new wave of mobile browser services in Europethrough their existing partners,” says Kai Leppanen, VP Sales, EMEA,Opera Software. “By offering Opera Mobile, Opera Mini and Opera Platformthrough debitel’s extensive network, we are delivering full Internetaccess and the power of mobile widgets to potentially millions of newpeople.
Making the Internet available to all of debitel’s customers is thecentral component of the long-term strategic partnership, which alsoincludes joint marketing activities. Depending on their handset ofchoice, debitel’s customers will be offered Opera Mobile, the full,client-side browser, or Opera Mini, the small, server-based browserwhich runs on almost any mobile phone. Both versions are customized fordebitel’s customers and include an integrated Internet search field andlinks to debitel’s partner sites. Phones with Opera Platform will comewith the software pre-installed and include a collection of Web basedapplications presented a branded and rich user interface.
About debitel
debitel AG, which has its headquarters in Stuttgart, is one of thebiggest telephone companies in Europe. debitel now has about 10.6million customers in Europe for mobile telephony, fixed-line telephonyand the Internet. In 2004, the company achieved revenues of €2.9billion. debitel employs over 2,600 people in Europe, more than 1,600 ofwhom work in Germany. The Chairman of the Board of Management is Paul A.Stodden. debitel is also active in Denmark, France, the Netherlands andSlovenia. It has a 100% stake in MIDRAY, a full-service provider formobile information and communication solutions for business customers.