Bharti's new offer for mobile users, ties up with Google

New Delhi, Nov 30: Private Cellular operator Bharti Airtel Ltd today announced a strategic partnership with Google to provide mobile search facility to its subscribers.

Under the agreement, Airtel will bring Google search to the Airtel Live mobile WAP portal. Google will also incorporate advertising through its mobile ads product on the Airtel ive mobile portal.

''Mobile user base is six times the number of people in India who have a personal computer and this ratio will become ten times in the recent years in the backdrop of boom in the wireless sector,'' Bharti President Manoj Kohli told reporters here.

The subscriber base would go beyond 400 million by year 2010, Mr Kohli added.

Google will power searches on Airtel Live in two areas-- on net and off net.

''This will enable advertisers to reach targeted users with their products and services and will have easy access to information.

Partnering with Airtel will bring Google services to the millions of mobile users in the country,'' Google Asia Pacific and Latin America Operations Vice President Ms Sukhinder Singh Cassidy said.

UNI