Tata DoCoMo launches BlackBerry services in India

Tata DoCoMo has launched BlackBerry services on its network starting September 2009, becoming the latest cellular service provider to join hands with Research in Motion. Tata DoCoMo said in a press release that the company will retail two BlackBerry handheld mobile phones – the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Bold 8900. Apart from these, customers of Tata DoCoMo can buy BlackBerries from the open market and use it with a Tata DoCoMo connection.

Tata DoCoMo did not announce the price of BlackBerries it will sell. The company announced that there will be two separate packages for BlackBerry customers – Do 299 and Do 899.

With Tata DoCoMo BlackBerry Do 299, customers get unlimited data usage for emailing and messaging, while Do 899 subscribers get unlimited data usage, emailing and SMS. Voice plans are subscribed separately, said Tata DoCoMo.

Tata Teleservices has two mobile telephony brands, Tata DoCoMo and Tata Indicom. Tata DoCoMo is the younger brand, which operates in eight telecom circles and provides GSM services. Tata Indicom has been around for a while, and offers CDMA services. Tata Indicom launched BlackBerry services on its network as early as last year, and now Tata DoCoMo has caught up with it.

The Blackberry Bold is a smartphone from Research in Motion, with a QWERTY keyboard, built-in GPS, WiFi and supporting HSDPA data transfer. It has a good screen among phones in its range and has rich multimedia features. It has a clear HVGA screen and has a leatherette back plate.

BlackBerry bold

The BlackBerry Curve has a striking high-resolution 360 X 480-pixel screen. It is one of the thinnest BlackBerry phones, with rich multimedia, connectivity and entertainment features. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera which can shoot stills and videos.

BlackBerry Curve 8900

Other mobile phone operators offering BlackBerry services in India include Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Indicom, Aircel, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and BSNL.

The latest entrant to India’s GSM cellular telephony, Tata DoCoMo has had an impressive growth so far. In August 2009, DoCoMo and Indicom together added 34 lakh subscribers, the largest subscriber base growth among all telcos.

The company recently announced the pay-per call concept, where users have to pay only for the exact number of seconds they call. The company has also unveiled two unlimted GPRS packages for its subscribers. Prepaid subscribers can purchase a Rs 15 GPRS pack, which will be valid for 3 days. This can be used to download unlimited data for the three days.

In the Rs 95 Tata DoCoMo GPRS pack, the package is valid for a month. It can also be used to access data on a computer from the phone. Tata DoCoMo says that a speed of up to 48 kbps will be available for GPRS data transfer. While roaming, data usage will charged at 10 paisa for 10 kb, Tata DoCoMo said.

GPRS users of Tata DoCoMo can access emails, run web applications and log onto mobile apps of popular websites like Orkut and Facebook.

BlackBerry users can use either the blackBerry enterprise server (BES) for corporate emailing, or BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS) for individual use. The former has encrypted data transfer and more administrative control, while the latter is more suitable for the individual user.