phone operator, Debitel, has decided to beef up its summer offerings by pre-installing the Opera Mini Web browser on seven new handsets. Just because you're at the beach doesn't mean you can't stay connected, and no one knows this better than debitel's 8.3 million German subscribers who now have access to a better, faster Web while on the go or in the sand.

Debitel's new Internet service now features the debitel Dashboard, a convenient way for users to access Web content directly from the homescreen. With the click of a Dashboard button, users can access e-mail, phone features, or get online to check the latest weather forecast.

Debitel customers will enjoy Opera Mini's speed, ease of use and cost-efficient compression of Web pages. Opera Mini leads the German Market in mobile Web browsing, as German telecoms O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone have also selected Opera Mini to deliver the Internet to their customers. According to Opera's State of the Mobile Web report, Germans are spending most of their mobile Web minutes shopping. Opera's Germany-specific study revealed that e-commerce accounts for more than seven percent of German Opera Mini traffic.

"Opera Mini has taken Germany by storm," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "We are the leading provider of the Internet in Germany's mobile market, with deals with all the leading German operators. The German people want to shop online, check out sports scores and read their friends' blogs from their mobile phones, and by partnering with leading operators such as debitel, Opera is able to give the people what they want."

Debitel has fully customized Opera Mini to match their corporate identity and to give users a familiar debitel experience while surfing the full Internet from their mobile phones. Debitel's Opera Mini-powered phones will be available to Debitel customers this summer.

"The figures show a sharp increase of mobile data usage. Opera Mini is one of the products which helps to get mobile web accepted downmarket,"says Martin Witt, head of products and innovations at debitel. "We have successfully partnered with Opera Software for the past two years, and Opera Mini has proven itself to be an asset to our business, not only delivering an incomparable Web experience but also a solid revenue source."

About the debitel Group

With more than 13 million customers in Germany, the debitel Group is the largest independent German telecommunications retailer. The debitel Group includes the debitel, Talkline, _dug and Callmobile brands. debitel offers the complete range of telecommunications and its own, innovative services. As a network-independent service provider, the company offers access to all four mobile networks and fast DSL access as well as mobile music and exciting bundle products. The company is represented at over 6,000 sales outlets throughout Germany, for example at Kaufhof, Karstadt, Saturn and Media Markt. At the same time, the debitel Group is continuously consolidating its own retail competence together with subsidiary _dug and expanding its own network of shops.