(23 January 2007 2:25 pm)

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has teamed up with Yahoo! India to offer instant messaging service to its customers.

Mobile IM will allow Reliance Mobile customers to chat live with other Reliance customers, as well as any Yahoo! IM user in the world using their PC.

Customers can send instant messages and chat online using all of the Yahoo! IM features such as simultaneous multi-chat windows, presence status icon, emoticons, Yahoo! personal contact list and profile, multiple chat windows and view off-line messages. Reliance's Yahoo! IM is "always connected" to deliver instant messages, informs an official release.

"Reliance is bridging the Digital Divide by extending the Internet-rich IM experience of the PCs to its mobile subscribers for the first time in India", said Reliance Communications president - applications content and solutions Group Mahesh Prasad. "This brings us one step closer towards the convergence of the mobiles and the PCs", he added.

Yahoo! India MD George Zacharias said, "We are glad to partner with Reliance for Mobile IM services, in India. This unique service will add a new dimension in enhancing our user experience and provide yet another compelling way to stay connected, instantly and at all times."

Yahoo! Instant Messenger service client interface for Reliance was developed by ACL Wireless. Yahoo! Messenger for mobile is available on all BREW, WAP and Nokia colour handsets using Java technologies.

Reliance Mobile customers can access Mobile Instant Messenger by clicking on Reliance Mobile World > hot n new > Yahoo! Msgr. Customers will be charged Rs. 5 for each session logged and can send and receive unlimited instant messages.

This is not the first time that Reliance Mobile has collaborated with Yahoo! Infact, Yahoo! Mail has been part of Reliance Mobile World's suite of WebMail services for over two years.