Airtel is first telco to offer Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 in India

Our Corporate Bureau
21 August 2006

Mumbai: Leading telecom services provider Bharti Airtel, today announced a strategic tie up with Microsoft. This partnership is expected to deliver great value to all Airtel customers spanning mobile, landline and broadband services.

Airtel and Microsoft have launched Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 platform that provides an opportunity to all Airtel customers to access corporate email via direct push technology. Airtel becomes the first operator in India to offer this technology to its customers. The service will deliver business applications and multimedia to all enterprise and SME customers across India.

Globally 115 existing mobile operators currently offer the Windows Mobile solution worldwide, discloses Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India.

The Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 platform offers a host of applications. Airtel users will now have access to MS office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Internet Explorer), multi-media functionality (camera, MP3, video recording) and a line of business applications like sales force automation on their mobile phones.

"This is a great beginning for two leaders in the industry to come together and forge a strategic partnership with a single-minded focus of providing value to the end user," says Manoj Kohli, president, Bharti Airtel Ltd. "Our partnership with Microsoft reinforces and strengthens our commitment to innovation."

Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India, also said that the launch of Windows Mobile 5.0 was intended to create people ready businesses. "The alliance with Bharti Airtel reflects the synergy between two industry leaders, both focused at innovating to help individuals realise their true potential."