Twitter has acquired mobile marketing business ZipDial, its first acquisition in India.

ZipDial has built a mobile platform that allows users to follow and engage with content across all interfaces. It combines SMS, voice, mobile web, and access to mobile apps to bridge users from offline to online.

ZipDial users can engage with publishers and brands by calling a toll-free phone number, which in return will generate calls, messages or notifications through their phone.

Although this may sound annoying, Twitter said in a blog post that “these interactions are especially appealing in areas where people aren’t always connected to data or only access data through intermittent Wi-Fi networks.”

ZipDial’s clients include Unilever, Disney, Gillette, Amazon and Facebook.

Christian Oestlien, vice president of product at Twitter, said: “Over the next several years, billions of people will come online for the first time in countries like Brazil, India and Indonesia.

“For many, their first online experience will be on a mobile device – but the cost of data may prevent them from experiencing the true power of the Internet. Twitter, in partnership with ZipDial, can make great content more accessible to everyone.”

By adding a platform partner in India, Twitter is presumably adding many more users there.

Valerie Wagoner, ZipDial’s founder and chief executive, said: “More than half of the world’s population live in emerging and newly developed markets, and these consumers use their mobile phones differently. We build for them.”

The deal is thought to be worth between $30m and $40m.