Actually, when I checked just now I saw that I can share it since they actually have published a nice brochure about the scheme :).

http://www.operasoftware.com/content/download/5572/205427/ve...

Basically the scheme was: get lots and lots of users. Then go to each operator and say.. hey.. you know these users that you are having a really hard time to monetize because you don't have a direct in-app/phone channel to them? We have an app that (for example) 20 million of your customers use every month. Our offer to you is that for a cost for X USD/month/user we will expose your services in the default speed dial of this app that your customers love to use. This worked exceptionally well.