Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Facebook @ No Internet

Bharti Airtel has launched a USSD-based service that ensure users to access Facebook without using the Internet or activating GPRS capabilities. Singapore-based software applications developer U2opia Mobile has developed this new application for mobile phones.
"We are using USSD technology, which will enable users to access Facebook without having a GPRS connection on their phones" said Sumesh Menon, the co-founder and CEO of U2Opia Mobile.

Unstructured Supplementary Data (USSD) is the technology used by telecom players to send alerts to their users that inform them about their balance at the end of call or for sending miss call alerts.

Even the Fb load is high at peak hours, Menon mentioned that though the technology will not provide access to graphics, it will help users send and view updates on their friends'' Facebook walls.the service is like a sms and an user can receive alerts on activity happening on his wall as well post an update.

While Airtel customers can update their Facebook status through this USSD service free of cost, Rs 1 per day will be applicable for accessing the full-feature application, which enables viewing news feeds, commenting on or liking news feed stories, posting on friends'' walls, confirming friend requests, viewing notifications and finding as well as adding friends.

Airtel users can dial *325# and *fbk# for non-qwerty mobile handsets to access Facebook without subscribing to data plans..

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