The provider of mobile social instant messaging (geo) presence and VoIP services, Nimbuzz and Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), which operates under the brand name Tata Indicom, have teamed up to offer instant messaging services. Nimbuzz and TTSL have announced that they have signed partnership deal to provide instant messaging services across multiple communities including Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo, Instant Messenger, AIM, Jabber and ICQ.
 
According to Nimbuzz, it has inked a major distribution agreement with TATA Indicom, under which, Nimbuzz application will be available to all the 35 million TATA subscribers through its very popular TATA Zone free of any subscription charge. TATA Indicom will also offer support for the Nimbuzz WAP application and TATA Indicom offer a special link - mtata.nimbuzz.com on Tata Zone.

According to TATA Indicom, the interested subscribers can log on to Tata Zone and click on the Nimbuzz link under the social networking tab to avail the services. The data charges will be applicable at the rate of 10 paise per 10 kb.

In the company statement, Mr. Zubin Jimmy Dubash, Assistant Vice President-VAS, Tata Teleservices Limited and Vineet Bhatia, COO Delhi and NCR, Head North Region, Tata Teleservices Limited, wrote, “Traditionally in India, the mobile phone has predominantly been a voice-driven medium to communicate amongst one-another. Nimbuzz is a convenient and value added text-messaging service that will largely appeal to young professionals and youth to be in constant touch with their friends, family and business associates. It is an innovative service that combines the power of a desktop chat with the mobility and convenience. Our partnership with Nimbuzz will open up new avenues and direction of increased ARPU’s in VAS segment with the introduction of Instant messaging and Mobile social networking.”

Commenting on the deal with Nimbuzz – TTSL deal, the Country Head Nimbuzz India, Mr. Vikas Saxena said, “This partnership means big name support for our fast growing Nimbuzz community with active promotion to 33 million customers. It also shows that we have created a converged solution that meets customer needs without undermining mobile operators.”

Saxena added, “We are registering over 600,000 users per month and this has been a terrific start for us in India which is a top market now! Since TATA Indicom is a name to reckon with and it is our pleasure to be associated with a brand like Tata. We are confident of our product offering and our partnerships will help us reach out to the Indian market in a big way.”