Opera Software launched a white-label managed service to enable mobile operators to offer branded subscription-based app stores to their customers.

Operators can use the Opera Subscription Mobile Store to offer users the ability to download as many apps as they want in return for a small weekly fee.

Opera runs the operational and administrative processes of the service, including developer payments, meaning operators don’t need to take on the overheads. The available titles are rotated, with a range of content available.

The service supports Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Java operating systems and is already live with five operators in three countries, including MTS Ukraine.

Opera touts the service as providing operators with a way to secure their own revenue from apps, after previously losing out to the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft.

“Rather than having to watch from the sidelines while third-party stores collect all the revenues, operators can be an active participant in the app value chain,” said Lars Boilesen, the CEO of Opera Software.

The Opera Mobile Store — on which the new service is based — was recently chosen by Microsoft as the new default storefront for Nokia feature phones.

Nokia X smartphones, which run a version of Android, along with Nokia Asha devices and phones running the Series 40 and Series 60 platforms, will make the switch during the first quarter of next year.

The Microsoft partnership makes Opera Mobile Store the third biggest storefront in the world, according to Opera, with around 300,000 titles and supporting 6,000 mobile phones.