Airtel and Affle announced the launch of SMS based search services inorder to reach to those who do not have GPRS connection or intern-enabled handsets.

Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer; Bharti Airtel said, "The uptake of the SMS2.0 has been very encouraging and we are embarking to take this platform to a different level – introducing search through SMS. This new upgrade service will thus allow Airtel users to Search - Airtel Live, Internet, Local search, Jobs and Property listings, from their SMS screen."

Named as Short Message & Search 2.0 (SMS2.0), the application is available for free to download SMS2.0, the Airtel customers need to send "SMS2" to 543210. Furthermore subscribers will be charged for SMSs as per their respective rates according to the plan applicable.