Telenor to rollout Firefox OS smartphones in 2013

Telenor today announces its partnership with Mozilla and its move towards bringing an open mobile ecosystem to its global business units. Starting in Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary, Firefox OS-based smartphones will be available to Telenor customers during the second half of the year. Asia will follow.

“We see a great potential in an open Web-based operating system. With HTML5 at the core of every feature on this phone, you remove barriers to development that are common with existing mobile ecosystems. This opens the door to the wide community of developers, who now have an opportunity to contribute to a new kind of smartphone,” said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO of Telenor.

More developers, more applications, better experience

Telenor is committed to spreading the mobile Internet among its customers. By embracing Mozilla’s open Web platform, Telenor aims to give more customers a high quality mobile Internet experience, complete with applications that are tailored to local needs. Development for the phone is in the hands of many, ultimately enriching the experience for the customer.

“The cooperation with Mozilla is yet another initiative originating from Telenor Digital Services. We are engaging local developer communities in our markets in order to stimulate development of locally relevant, useful apps and to raise awareness of this new open operating system. We want to bring the smartphone experience to more customers, and by offering an affordable device, with rich and locally relevant apps, we expect to see Firefox OS-based phones serving as a stimulus for data growth in our markets,” added Baksaas.

“Telenor has been a dedicated partner in bringing Firefox OS to its realization,” said Gary Kovacs, CEO Mozilla. “Our companies share a common vision of open Web devices powering the mobile experience. We are excited that individuals in Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary will be among the earliest to experience Firefox OS and contribute to its evolution.”

Built by the community

Telenor, along with the Mozilla community and more than a dozen global operators, is an active participant in the development of the Firefox OS through the sharing of its engineering resources. Firefox OS is built entirely upon open Web standards, and every feature for the phone can be developed as an HTML5 application.

For further information

Atle Lessum, Chief Communication officer Telenor Digital Services, (+47) 415 05 645, al@telenor.com

About Mozilla

Mozilla has been a pioneer and advocate for the Web for more than a decade. We create and promote open standards that enable innovation and advance the Web as a platform for all. Today, hundreds of millions of people worldwide use Mozilla Firefox to discover, experience and connect to the Web on computers, tablets and mobile phones. For more information please visit https://www.mozilla.org/mwc.