Airtel introduces free mobile access to Twitter

Bharti Airtel has today announced that its prepaid customers in Kenya will now be able to access Twitter on their mobile phones for free till 15th January 2015.

This limited period Twitter offer by Airtel will allow customers to enjoy free access to Twitter through web browsers by visiting http://mobile.twitter.com and official Twitter Android app and enjoy posting Tweets, keeping up with news and what’s happening across the world. This offer is only available for android users.  Subscribers using BlackBerry handset will not be able to avail this offer.   

 With over a hundred million of active users worldwide, Twitter is an information network that connects people everywhere to what's most meaningful to them. People can share and read Tweets of up to 140 characters, which can also include photos, videos or links to websites and news stories.

While announcing the new offer, Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said, “Customers are increasingly relying on the mobile devices for accessing everything from emails to music to social networks. In conjunction with this trend, we are pleased to introduce 3 months of free access to Twitter to our prepaid customers. Our customers will now be able to enjoy Twitter’s rich interface on their mobile web browsers free of charge. This initiative will introduce new users to an exciting world of possibilities that mobile internet enables, thus providing an impetus to data services market”.

Mr. El Youssefi added, “We have always been committed to delivering experiences that are innovative and relevant for our customers. This offer reinforces our focus on this promise and adds to our list of many industry firsts”.

To access the offer, Airtel customers with data enabled phones shall access: mobile.twitter.com from the default browser of their handset, use Twitter Android App on their Android device, or use the Twitter apps on Windows Phone or Nokia devices.  Accessing the Twitter page is free however, standard data charges will apply for viewing external links, pictures, videos and other media thus its recommended that one purchases a data bundle or have credit.

The Twitter App has been customized wherein, every Airtel customer who is accessing Twitter, will be able to view a message on the header and footer of the app mentioning Twitter is free of charge with Airtel. This Twitter app will pop up a message of additional data consumption charges only if a subscriber chooses to visit an external link while browsing updates on Twitter.