Telkom's mobile arm 8ta is releasing its BlackBerry offering, with an SA first of providing customers with free mobile YouTube streaming of up to 500MB per month.
The operator told ITWeb exclusively that the packages will be available in stores from Sunday 24 April.
8ta will be offering the smartphone's BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) at a discounted subscription rate. At launch, the company will offer a free BIS subscription for the first three months for customers on Contract 1 with the BlackBerry Curve 8520. At the end of the three months, the customers subscribed to the Hero deal will pay R49, including VAT, per month for the remaining 21-month duration of the contract.
Managing executive of 8ta Amith Maharaj says: “It is our aim to shake up the market...We believe that the BlackBerry solution will help to ensure that our customers go beyond just using e-mail and Internet on their smartphones.”
Data importance
{EMBEDDED] At launch, 8ta will offer the BlackBerry Curve 3G and BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphones. It says it will offer the BlackBerry Bold 9780 and BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphones soon thereafter.
“8ta will offer BlackBerry Enterprise Server for corporate customers and BlackBerry Internet Service for smaller businesses and individual users,” says the operator.
It explains that BlackBerry Enterprise Server is for organisations that manage their own e-mail servers. “The BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise and uses advanced security and IT policy controls to enable secure, push-based wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data.”
BIS is designed for smaller businesses and individuals. It allows customers to access BlackBerry data services including Internet and access to up to 10 supported corporate and personal e-mail accounts, adds 8ta.
Portfolio manager of messaging at 8ta Khopotso Holeni says there was an expectation in the market for 8ta to make a BlackBerry offering. She adds that the YouTube part of the package is to encourage users to experience data services. “It's our way of saying BlackBerry is not just a device.”
Price it
As part of the offering, customers can nominate one Telkom landline to make unlimited free calls to for 24 months. This offer is available to contract customers.
Pre-paid customers receive free voice airtime for calls received on their 8ta number. All BlackBerry smartphones will be available on pre-paid, contract and saver options, says the company.
Contract customers pay R49 per month for BIS. Prepaid customers will pay R59 per month including VAT and enterprise server customers will pay R89 per month. These fees are in addition to the base plan fee.
Popular berry
The operator began testing BlackBerry smartphones on its network in November last year. It is also in discussions with Apple to offer its iPhone smartphone range.
The BlackBerry play is a significant one for the newcomer, as it has been recognised as a fast-growing cellular brand in SA. BlackBerry smartphones were rated as the second “most popular cellphone” in the annual Sunday Times Generation Next Survey 2010. In 2009, BlackBerry smartphones were ranked fifth, and in 2008, the brand was ranked seventh.
8ta has already come to market with a strong smartphone play, including an extensive range of Nokia, HTC, Samsung, Motorola and Sony handsets.
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C already offer the BlackBerry smartphones. However, only Vodacom and MTN offer Apple's iPhones.
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