Pre-paid B'Berry services soon

TELECOM COMPANIES RING IN GOOD NEWS FOR USERS...

Notwithstanding the controversy surrounding BlackBerry, hailed for its push mail services, Reliance Communications (RCom) is close to launching pre-paid BlackBerry services in the country.

Meanwhile, the another private CDMA service provider, Tata Teleservices (TTSL), is gearing up to launch the services by the end of the year.

"RCom has already tested the viability of launching pre-paid BlackBerry services on its network on all the six models available in the country," sources close to the development told Business Standard.

At present, BlackBerry services are only available in the post-paid mode, and with the proposed launch, pre-paid services will help subscribers keep the usage under check.

When contacted, a Reliance Communications spokesperson confirmed the move, but declined to provide the date of the launch.

At present, four service providers—Bharati Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, BPL Mobile and RCom—provide BlackBerry services in the country. BPL Mobile has recently launched 'BlackBerry Connect', a service that provides BlackBerry services without the need of a BlackBerry handset, in the country.

BlackBerry is a product of Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM) and offers a patented service that provides wireless e-mails over mobile phones. The e-mails are pushed on to the handsets the moment they are received at the server, eliminating the need to connect to the web.