RCom offers BlackBerry services in India

Reliance Communications, India's second-biggest mobile-phone operator, began offering Research In Motion's BlackBerry service in India to lure corporate users from the larger rival, Bharti Airtel.

The service would generate a monthly revenue of Rs 2,000 ($49) to Rs 3,000 per user, or as much as 10 times that of mobile-phone users, Prakash Bajpai, the president of Reliance's enterprise unit, told reporters in Mumbai today.

The wireless device, which allows users to make calls, e-mail, browse the web and download songs, will initially be offered in 16 cities.

Reliance Communications, based in Mumbai, is almost three years behind Bharti in offering BlackBerry to woo higher-spending business clients as falling mobile-phone rates reduce operators' profitability in India.

The company declined to forecast how many units Reliance expects to sell, or provide an estimate for the number of users at Bharti or Vodafone Group's local unit.

Reliance will offer the first BlackBerry service on the world's two major mobile-phone platforms, the global system for mobile communications, or GSM, and the code division multiple access, or CDMA, networks, letting subscribers use it overseas. The dual-platform model costs Rs 33,990 ($836).

Indian carriers, including Bharti and Reliance, are selling more web-related services as call charges in India has dropped to the lowest in the world at 1 US cent a minute.

Reliance Communications shares were unchanged at Rs 544.30 in Mumbai. They have gained 15 per cent this year, compared with a 35 per cent gain for Bharti.

The monthly charges for the service would vary between Rs 899 and Rs 1,099 rupees, Bajpai said.

Vodafone Essar, previously known as Hutchison Essar, began offering the BlackBerry service in India, the world's fastest growing wireless market, on December 14.