Manila-based Chikka.com, creators of the popular Internet gateway to texting mobile phones, announced its connectivity to all mobile network operators in the United Kingdom including Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Virgin, 3 and Orange. Chikka’s patented “unified account systems” will allow UK mobile users to to log-on to their PC-based IM using their mobile numbers to enjoy instant messaging whether on-line or on-the-go, all via simple SMS.

“Now anyone, anywhere in the world may send free text messages from our instant messenger (IM) to all mobile phones in the UK,” said Chito Bustamante, chief operating officer of Chikka Asia, Inc. “With our new connectivity to operators in the UK, Chikka is uniting hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in the UK with loved ones back home. But in the last years, we have also connected to operators in the US and in India. It is equally exciting to open mobile instant messaging between these countries and their migrant populations,” said Bustamante.

With all major carriers supported in the UK, the service becomes available to over 70 million mobile subscribers in that country. Among the world’s highly sophisticated mobile cultures, UK mobile users send 4.7 million messages every hour, according to the Mobile Data Association (MDA).

“We are proud to bring Chikka, most reliable for PC to mobile messaging, to such an exciting mobile market,” added Bustamante. “The online world will appreciate the seamless connectivity to mobile subscribers in the UK, an important financial and commercial center and a melting pot of many cultures.”

Chikka created the world’s first mobile instant messenger to run on SMS. Launched in the Philippines in 2001, over 35 million registered users also counts close to two million users across India where it opened to all major operators in 2005.

Chikka is freely downloaded www.chikka.com.

Source: Chikka