Twitter is buying Indian start-up ZipDial, seeking to expand in the world's second-biggest mobile market.
The microblogging service did not disclose terms of the purchase, but TechCrunch put the deal at $30m to $40m (£20m to £26.5m).
ZipDial, based in the tech hub of Bangalore in southern India, has capitalised on a local tradition of communicating through so-called missed calls.
A person may give a friend a missed call to signal arrival at an agreed destination, for instance, without having to pay the cost of a phone call.
Valerie Wagoner, founder and chief executive of ZipDial, told the Wall Street Journal that the company managed to reach Indians who do not have an internet connection, saying that a portion of those who have smartphones still cannot afford data access.
ZipDial gives clients phone numbers for use in marketing campaigns.
Consumers call the numbers and hang up before connecting and incurring charges, and then receive promotion-related text messages.
Its clients include International Business Machines Corp, Yum! KFC and Gillette.
"This acquisition significantly increases our investment in India, one of the countries where we're seeing great growth," Twitter said in a statement.
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