BSNL Launches Blackberry Services In The Country
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the government-owned services provider in India, and Research In Motion (RIM), a company offering wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market, announced the launch of BlackBerry services in the Indian market.
Commenting on their entry into the Blackberry category, Siddhartha Behura, Secretary Department of Telecommunication, Government of India and Chairman Telecom Commission said, “BSNL customers can now enjoy the freedom and productivity benefits of using 3G smartphones to stay connected and get information on the go.”
It can be recalled that a smartphone BlackBerry, introduced in 2002, supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services as well as a multi-touch interface.
Three blackberry handsets, with a price range of Rs 14,499-34,399, launched were Blackberry Bold, Blackberry Curve 8310 and Blackberry 8700.
In the coming months, BSNL is looking to sell nearly 1,000 handsets in the domestic market.
Currently, four telecom players: Reliance Communications, Airtel, Vodafone and Tata Teleservices are providing BlackBerry services in the country.
BSNL has nearly 72 million users in India and it plans to raise this number to 80 million by the end of this year.
However, security agencies in India have expressed their concern over the BlackBerry devices as they assert that the data being transmitted through the device could not be intercepted due to the high encryption codes being used by the company.
