Readers may recall a few months back when we featured Fonetwish, a mobile solution that allows users to interact with Facebook without a mobile data plan. In areas where the service is supported by local carriers, it allows users to dial *325#, prompting a menu to appear where they can log in to Facebook. From there they can then see familiar Facebook menu options, as you can see below.
The service was developed by Singapore-based U2opia Mobile, who recently announced that it now handles an astounding billion user interactions per month. The company, which was funded by Matrix Parters India, says it is seeing ‘healthy user growth,’ though the actual numbers have not been announced, although when last we heard it was 300+ million users.
So far Fonetwish is popular in areas like India, Indonesia, and Africa, with mobile operator partnerships in those regions. It has expansion to the Philippines, Malaysia and other markets on the horizon.
Needless to say, we really like the idea of empowering users in emerging mobile markets to use the social web without using any data plan. As we saw in our recent Startup Asia Jakarta conference, in markets like Indonesia where low-cost handsets are the norm, there are no shortage of customers who would love this kind of capability.
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