Vodafone has inked a global frame agreement with Norwegian maker of browsers Opera. The deal covers Opera Widgets, mobile phone browser Opera Mini and the newly unveiled Opera Turbo.

Vodafone and its subisdiaries will embed the products in devices, or distribute them over its mobile network. As part of the agreement, Opera will design a version of Opera Mini aimed for use on low and mid-priced mobile phones using Java.

Selected phones will be able to display flashy web 2.0 content from sites such as Youtube. Opera claims web pages will be compressed by up to 90%, which allows fast browsing even on sluggish networks. The customised version of Opera Mini has been field tested by Vodafone Egypt, where it was downloaded 400,000 times.

Opera didn't say anything about how Opera Turbo will fit into the picture, except that the deal covers the newly revealed proxy-based solution. According to the company, Opera Turbo compresses text and pictures by up to 80% without transcoding the content, meaning operators can save money on the bandwidth front.

No one knows how exactly Opera Turbo works and Opera has neither provided detailed information, nor replied our questions. Opera Turbo supports Ajax and Flash, however doesn't compress them. With a name firmly rooted in the 1980s, we can only assume that it comes with flared trousers and wide lapels and has appalling taste in music.

A white paper on Opera Turbo is available here. X