Under the agreement, Airtel customers will now be able to access their MSN Hotmail accounts via two-way short message service (SMS), as well as send and receive messages using MSN Messenger via their Airtel mobile phone.

With this new service, users of MSN Hotmail will have the option to receive email sent to their MSN Hotmail accounts via SMS on their Airtel mobile phones whenever and wherever they are. They will also be able to reply to those email messages directly to the senders inbox using SMS, as well as perform other common tasks directly from their phone.

The 'MSN Messenger over SMS' service is also a form of two-way SMS, which enables users and their MSN Messenger buddies to keep in touch with each other at any time via a PC and any mobile phone that supports SMS technology.

When a user is logged on to MSN Messenger on a PC, he/she can keep in touch with family and friends via their mobile phone simply by creating and saving a mobile MSN Messenger number for each of their buddies.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in October 2004, mobile phone users grew by 1.4 million to 44.9 million, overtaking the number of landlines. Analysts have identified cheap rates and a huge youth demographic as key drivers of the market.

Mobile 365 Asia MD Mathew Talbot said, "India's nascent mobile market is the world's fastest growing, presenting exciting opportunities for companies seeking entry into the country. The Indian mobile market has evolved from a class service to a mass service for the common man fuelled by continuously falling tariffs, increased coverage, and customised service offerings.

"As market competition intensifies, voice is increasingly becoming a commodity; service providers need to search for new revenue opportunities to boost their bottom lines. Being directly connected with more than 150 mobile operators worldwide and having collaborated with more than 450 global brands, we believe that mobile messaging (SMS and MMS), music, games, and entertainment will continue to be the key revenue drivers in the next few years."