Airtel launches USSD-based Facebook access service in India

Airtel has launched the world's first USSD-based Facebook access service in India, a way to access the social networking site facebook without an internet connection. Airtel users will be able to update their Facebook status for free, and, for Rs. 1 a day, view/comment/Like news feeds, post on walls, confirm friend requests, find and add friends, and view notifications.For subscribing to the service, Airtel customers need to dial *325# (and “*fbk#” for non-qwerty mobile handsets) to access Facebook - without subscribing to data plans.

Based on Fonetwish developed by U2opia Mobile, a social and mobile applications provider, this service is available first for Airtel customers in India and is set to empower more and more people across the country to stay connected with their loved ones through Facebook.

USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a menu-based system that enables interfacing with content based services. Instead of a browser, which requires an internet / GPRS connection), the USSD menu acts as browser to pull content to the phone.