<p>Twitter could be about to increase its user base significantly with news that the company has partnered with a Singapore-based start-up to bring the microblogging service to handsets that lack Internet access.</p><p>U2opia Mobile's Fonetwish service, which uses a telecom protocol known as Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), allows users to dial a number in order to receive a feed of Twitter's trending topics at any given time.</p><p>The move could see millions of people in emerging markets trying Twitter for the first time, though the service, which is due to launch by March 2014, will be text-based as the technology doesn't allow for the transmission of images or videos.</p><p>"USSD as a vehicle for Twitter is almost hand-in-glove because Twitter has by design a character limit, it's a very text-driven social network," U2opia chief executive and co-founder Sumesh Menon told Reuters this week, adding, "For a lot of end users in the emerging markets, it's going to be their first Twitter experience."</p><p><a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/international/twitter-looks-to-expand-user-base-with-new-service-for-non-internet-phones/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://mashable.com/2013/12/06/internet-free-twitter/">Report: Internet-Free Twitter Service Coming to International Markets</a> (Mashable)</p><p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/06/us-twitter-partnership-u2opia-idUSBRE9B413M20131206">Twitter to be available on mobile phones without Internet</a> (Reuters)</p><p><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/54940-twitter-to-expand-service-to-phones-without-internet-access.html">Twitter to expand service to phones without Internet access</a> (TechSpot)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dT7EBq28aW6F6IMYwBLriKpey5xqM&ned=us">109 additional articles.</a></p>