In a big move for the mobile ecosystem Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile service provider in terms of subscriber base, today announced the launch of “tweetSMS” a third-party application which allows its GSM Mobile service users to receive Twitter SMS Updates directly to the mobile phone.
The launch of "tweetSMS" is clearly intended as a retention and brand image especially in the youth segment onto Airtel network.
Now Airtel subscriber can all Tweet at the price of a single SMS, they can connect to a huge community of Tweeters.
An Airtel subscriber simply has to SMS Signup to short code 53000 at a cost of Rs 1, follow the instructions to complete the registration process and start Tweeting.
This VAS allows Airtel subscriber to stay in touch with a large community of Tweeters without needing an internet connection on mobile phone. For the price of a single SMS charged at Re 1, the Tweet that you post goes out to the entire community of listed Tweeters on the Airtel network.
India recently became the 3rd largest online market for Twitter in just a few months, with 5 million subscribers of a total of over 11.5 million. Airtel has an exclusive arrangement with Twitter to offer the service. However the operator did not disclose the period of exclusivity.
