- Airtel first operator in India to launch two way Twitter SMS (Tata had last year launched the notification service)
- Twitter now has 5 mn subscribers from India out of a total of 11.5 mn and is soon likely to become it largest market
- Airtel has exclusive arrangement with Twitter to offer TweetSMS in India
- Charge Rs.1/outgoing tweetsms (incoming tweetsms are free)
- Over 50 Mn of Airtel's 110 Mn subs now sms
- Well known folks on twitter from India include - Priyanka Chopra, Gul Panag, Mallika Sherawat, Karan Johar, Shashi Tharoor, Pritish Nandy, Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, Rahul Gandhi, Narenda Modi, MTV India, NDTV (@nmanaktala - I follow Shashi Tharoor and thoroughly enjoy his tweets as also Narendra Modi and Padmasee Warrior)
- Twitter globally as an organisation has under 80 employees altogether with 6 people in its mobile team
- A recent investment in Twitter valued it at $ 1bn
- Twitter also recently announced its turned cash positive, 1 year ahead of schedule
Twitter Blog
October 14, 2009
Twitter is committed to fostering the open exchange of information because we passionately believe it can have a positive global impact. When people can exchange information freely and publicly they are able to accomplish great things. As powerful as the Internet has become for the democratization of information, its range is limited when compared to mobile texting—a format uniquely native to Twitter. There are over one billion people with internet access on the planet but there are more than four billion people with mobile phones and Twitter can work on all of them because even the simplest of these devices feature SMS.
We have seen people use Twitter to help each other during fuel shortages, track the spread of wildfires, check in during earthquakes, organize major charitable events, spread urgent news efficiently around the world, and much more. In many of these scenarios, texting has been the key. People exchanging information quickly and efficiently with the device that has become essential to everyday life, their mobile phone. In many parts of the world people do not have Internet access but they can text—and that means they can access Twitter.
As we grow, we seek to partner with organizations that share our vision for positive global impact. Our partnership with Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile operator in India, means a huge population of people can now send tweets at standard rates and receive tweets for free. Bharti Airtel is offering people in every city, every village, every remote taluk and even the smallest panchayat the opportunity to connect to Twitter and enjoy the open exchange of information with no added fees. We are proud to have Bharti Airtel as our partner. Give Twitter a try with your Airtel phone by sending START to 53000. And spread the word!
Twitter is not about technology, it's about people. We worked quickly to establish full SMS service in India with the largest operator because organic growth in the region has been unusually strong and there is huge potential for positive impact. India already shines brightly with Twitter advocates like film stars Priyanka Chopra @priyankachopra Gul Panag @gulpanag, and Mallika Sherawat @mallikala, director Karan Johar @kjohar25, Minister of State Shashi Tharoor @shashitharoor, upper house member Pritish Nandy @pritishnandy, news anchors Barkha Dutt @bdutt and Vir Sanghvi @virsanghvi, plus media outlets MTV India @MTVindia and NDTV @ndtv just to name a few.
Despite growing global awareness, Twitter has under 80 employees altogether but our little mobile team packs a punch. Kevin Thau with help from Tim Huske have built a mobile team of six people within Twitter and they've made considerable strides bringing full SMS service to the US, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and now India. As long as you keep asking for Twitter, we'll keep working to activate full service in your region with no extra charges. Don't forget to activate your mobile—visit the Devices page or text START to Twitter
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