Indonesia's Telkomsel subscribers will have 3 hours of free Internet, thanks to Opera Software's Opera Web Pass service and the country's top online-classifieds site, Berniaga.com. Berniaga.com whose name translates to 'doing business' in the Indonesian language, is a C2C platform that sees millions of Indonesians selling and buying things and services online. Earlier this year, Opera entered into a similar partnership with Quikr, India's largest online mobile classifieds portal to bring free data to subscribers of Idea Cellular, India’s 3rd-largest mobile operator.
While sponsored data gains momentum, Opera Software (Opera) is going on an operator partnership spree, signing up operators in heavily populated regions and in places where internet and mobile internet is yet to reach the masses. Earlier this month, Opera signed an agreement with Telenor Myanmar to bring zero rated Wikipedia and Facebook access to its subscribers.
Opera's sponsored data service works on a simple and straightforward mechanism. It's Opera Mini browser app which can be installed on any smartphone enables Opera to segment the usage of data by any subscriber, allowing free data access on selected sites, for specific amounts of data and for a specific time period.The Opera Mini browser does this via the Web Pass, an easy-to-click and activate feature that comes with the Opera Mini. Opera's Web Pass solution for sponsored data allows operators, content providers, merchants as well as advertisers to roll out a wide range of 'free data' offers to subscribers - including deals such as 30 minutes free usage of a social media app, 1 hour free data on Internet browsing or 50% discount for browsing a particular site.
Apart from special sponsored deals, Opera Web Pass can also be leveraged by operators as means to introduce mobile internet service to first-time data subscribers. Opera Mini's compression technology delivers significant savings on data usage as it is able to transform heavy content into a leaner form while retaining the quality and user experience. As a result, first-time mobile data users can spend a longer time enjoying the mobile Internet service without having to worry about outages. In its report, Opera said that mobile users in India who use its Opera Mini browser to connect to internet consumed 75% less mobile data in the first half of this year, translating into savings of approximately USD$34.7 million in the first six months of 2014.
The Opera Mini and its compression capabilities together with the Opera Web Pass also enable any operator to offer compelling deals on their pre-paid mobile internet packages - especially bite-sized offers - as means to onboard more subscribers to their mobile Internet services. Digi Telecommunications, Telenor's subsidiary in Malaysia, uses the Opera Web Pass for offer mini pre-paid mobile internet packages, for example, RM30 (USD$9) for prepaid 1Gb data. Subscribers can top-up this data with a short term data booster upon reaching the usage threshold or have continued unlimited Internet access via Opera Mini, whereby the compression capability offered on the application ensures subscribers do not experience a sudden fall in Internet browsing quality often experienced by data users who reach their quota limits.
In the latest deal between Opera and Indonesia's Berniaga.com, the ecommerce player will be sponsoring up to 3 hours of free internet access for each Telkomsel's subscriber in the course of the next two months. According to Opera, Telkomsel's users will be offered the "Free Internet by Berniaga (3 hours)" web-pass option as soon as they launch their Opera Mini browser on their mobile device and by subscribing to the Web Pass, they will be able to browse the web and enjoy three hours of sponsored internet access for one day. In total, Berniaga.com will be sponsoring 3 million hours of free internet for Telkomsel's subscribers.
Reynazran Royono, Deputy General Manager of Berniaga.com
Indonesia is the fastest-growing C2C marketplace and classifieds market in Southeast Asia, and this growth is propelled by smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. With Sponsored Web Pass, we believe we can reach new consumers by making it easy and convenient for them to access the mobile internet.
Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software
Internet penetration in Indonesia has seen tremendous growth in recent years. We are very excited to collaborate with the market leaders in Indonesia and reach more Indonesian users. We are confident Opera Web Pass will encourage people to go online more often.
