TATA DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, India’s youngest and fastest-growing pan-India dual-technology telecom service provider, and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® solution on TATA DOCOMO’s GSM platform. TATA DOCOMO will offer the BlackBerry® Bold™ and BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900 smartphones to its customers in India starting today.
BlackBerry smartphones and services provide customers with easy wireless access to e-mail, phone, calendar, Internet browsing and multimedia applications, as well as access to thousands of mobile business and lifestyle applications.
Announcing the launch of the BlackBerry solution for TATA DOCOMO customers, Mr Deepak Gulati, President, TATA DOCOMO, said: “TATA DOCOMO is a young brand that recently rolled out GSM services across eight circles within a span of 45 days and has received an enthusiastic response. When we launched our GSM services, we had promised our subscribers that we would bring to them the best products and services. Living up to that brand promise, we are launching two powerful BlackBerry smartphones for our customers. Indian telecom users will also have the option to connect any authorized BlackBerry smartphone available in the market and subscribe to a TATA DOCOMO data plan.”
“The BlackBerry smartphones, together with TATA DOCOMO offerings, will appeal to a broad spectrum of retail and business customers who want an exceptional mobile experience with e-mail, messaging, social networking, mobile Internet, music and entertainment,” Mr Gulati added.
Ms Frenny Bawa, Vice-President, Research In Motion India, said, “We are very pleased to introduce the BlackBerry solution on the recently launched TATA DOCOMO GSM network. The BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphones each deliver a powerful mix of communications, connectivity and multimedia features that will suit the needs of Indian customers.”
To further enhance the power of choice, TATA DOCOMO has offered two flexible plans for BlackBerry data service—‘Do 299’ and ‘Do 899’. The ‘Do 299’ plan covers unlimited data usage for e-mail and instant messaging, while the ‘Do 899’ plan includes unlimited data usage for Internet, e-mail and instant messaging access. Voice plans are subscribed separately.
Mr Pradeep Dwivedi, Senior Vice-President for Marketing and Product Development at Tata Teleservices Limited, said: “The Blackberry solution has been the de facto Gold Standard in enterprise messaging, offering ubiquitous connectivity and productivity enhancement. We are excited to extend the BlackBerry offerings on GSM to our vast base of enterprise customers and partners, who have so far enjoyed superlative services on CDMA and dual-technology platforms.”
More From This Section
The BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve 8900 Smartphones
The performance-driven BlackBerry Bold is a full-QWERTY smartphone that is crafted from premium materials and features a luxurious black exterior, satin chrome-finished frame and leatherette back-plate. It supports enterprise-grade Wi-Fi® (802.11 a/b/g) networks and includes built-in GPS. It also supports tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world. The BlackBerry Bold comes with a stunning HVGA screen and rich multimedia features, making it an exceptional smartphone for both business and personal use.
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone features a stylish, compact design and offers a wide range of popular features and an easy-to-use full-QWERTY keyboard. It features built-in GPS and supports location-based services. It also allows easy access to social networking sites and has built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), making it easier to stay connected to family, friends and colleagues. In addition, the handset’s advanced multimedia capabilities include a 3.2-megapixel camera with image stabilization, zoom, flash and the ability to record video*, a media player, a 3.5-mm stereo headset jack and headset, and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot.
*Video recording requires a microSD card, which may be sold separately.
About Tata Teleservices Limited
Tata Teleservices Limited is one of India’s leading private telecom service providers, having a pan-India presence across all of India’s 22 telecom Circles. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom, Tata DOCOMO, Photon and Walky brands, and uses both the CDMA and GSM technology platform(s) for its wireless networks. Tata Teleservices Limited, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited, operates in more than 325,000 towns and villages across the country. In November 2008, Tata Teleservices entered into an agreement with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO, and this transaction marks a key step in the strategic evolution of Tata Teleservices Limited. Tata DOCOMO has so far launched GSM services in eight telecom Circles, and the remaining part of the country is also expected to be covered shortly. In December 2008, Tata Teleservices announced a unique reverse equity swap strategic agreement between its fully-owned telecom tower subsidiary—Wireless TT Info-Services Limited—and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Limited, thereby becoming the largest independent entity in this space. Tata Teleservices’ bouquet of telephony services includes mobile services, wireless desktop phones, public booth telephony and Wireline services.
For details, visit www.tatateleservices.com, www.tataindicom.com, and www.tatadocomo.com.
About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around the world and include the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.