Dial Competition

New Delhi, Aug. 16: Top telecom firms such as Bharti Airtel, Tata Indicom, Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar have entered into a price war to capture the market for low-cost BlackBerry services.

BlackBerry — popular among executives for its push-mail service — has around 28.5 million customers globally. In India, more than 8 lakh BlackBerry handsets have been sold since 2004.

However, to capture the youth market, service providers in a collaboration with Research in Motion (RIM) — the maker of BlackBerry — are launching co-branded handsets, which are not only low-priced but also provide push-mail and Internet services at affordable rates.

Tata Teleservices said it was offering a monthly plan at Rs 299 on the BlackBerry 8703e model, priced at Rs 9,990. Tata’s Silver Data Plan allows customers to download unlimited data to access up to 10 email accounts besides an optional BlackBerry email address, offers instant messaging services and gives access to networking sites.

However, Bharti Airtel was the first to hit the market at a monthly rate of Rs 299. Airtel’s prepaid customers can avail themselves of BlackBerry’s email and instant messaging services on the BlackBerry Curve 8520 handset. By upgrading to a monthly rental plan for Rs 899, users can enjoy unlimited Internet.

“There has been a paradigm shift in the proliferation of email access by mobile users. The new offer will interest a broad range of users,” said Pradeep Dwivedi, senior vice-president (marketing), Tata Teleservices Ltd.

With smartphone sales growing at around 20-25 per cent and 12 lakh handsets expected to be sold by 2009-end, mobile players are betting on affordability to perk up sales.

BlackBerry services, which were till now restricted to post-paid customers, are being made available to prepaid customers.

“With more than 90 per cent of the mobile customers in the prepaid segment, our new service plan opens the use of BlackBerry to over 100 million customers,” said Raghunath Mandava, chief marketing office, mobile services, Airtel.

“We are looking at an unprecedented growth in the Indian smartphone category. New handsets launched are aimed at the young untapped mass market, which wants a combination of email and networking facility with entertainment capabilities,” said Frenny Bawa, vice-president India of RIM.

Last month, Reliance Communications, too, launched the “Reliance E-Lite” plan, where a BlackBerry user can use email and do instant messaging for Rs 299 a month. The plan is being offered with all BlackBerrys.

According to the marketing and business director of Vodafone Essar, Harit Nagpal, “The new service plan provides an innovative and economical option for customers who wish to stay connected through email and instant messaging while on the move.” Vodafone, too, has launched a Rs 299 plan, which offers BlackBerry users access to up to 10 supported personal and business email accounts as well as instant messaging services.