Myriad Group AG  a global leader in mobile technology and  Vodafone Essar Ltd., one of  India''s leading telecommunications services providers, have signed an agreement on Monday  to deliver social networking and messaging services over SMS and USSD to its subscribers across India.

"Adoption of social networking on mobile devices across India is growing exponentially. In order to keep pace with market demands, our partnership with Myriad will enable us to quickly and seamlessly deliver social networking services on a massive scale across our entire subscriber base using SMS and USSD," said Kumar Ramanathan, CMO, Vodafone Essar.

As part of the agreement, Vodafone Essar will leverage Myriad's flagship mobile social networking platform, Xumii. With Xumii, Vodafone Essar will be able to seamlessly deploy social networking services on a massive scale, making mobile social networking accessible over USSD and SMS.

Vodafone Essar will be deploying the recently launched Myriad Updates, a first-of-its-kind text-based mobile social networking service accessible on low-end phones, without requiring users to have a data plan. Myriad Updates leverages Myriad's leading mobile social networking platform and Self-Care systems to power services for Tier 1 operators around the world.

Vodafone Essar will be rolling out Myriad's complete portfolio of mobile messaging services, including SMS, instant messaging and mobile email. Rich in features such as viewing multiple messaging channels simultaneously in the same thread, Myriad's cutting-edge messaging solution enables mobile operators to easily deploy and integrate messaging services with a minimal investment.

"Along with our important relationship with Telefonica in LATAM, our partnership with Vodafone Essar is further proof of Myriad's unique and compelling portfolio for emerging markets," said Simon Wilkinson, CEO of Myriad. "Not only does this agreement reinforce our leadership in mobile messaging and mobile social networking, it also extends our footprint in what is an exciting and fast-growing sector."