Taiwan Mobile to launch BlackBerry

Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) yesterday said it planned to launch BlackBerry phones in Taiwan by the end of this month at the earliest to boost revenue, making it the first local telecom company to offer the red-hot wireless device in Taiwan.

The nation's third-largest mobile service operator said about 160 companies including Citi Group are interested in purchasing BlackBerry phones -- as its push-mail service would enable their executives to access e-mails on the go.

Bigger rival Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) is also interested in offering BlackBerry handsets, but Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry, said it was not in talks with any other Taiwanese companies to launch its products.

"We are working solely with Taiwan Mobile and we are not working with anybody else" in Taiwan, said Norm Lo (勞偉強), the vice president of RIM's Asia Pacific branch, in a press conference in Taipei.

Taiwan Mobile said the popular mobile device would help it increase its corporate customer base and drive average revenues per user (ARPU) in the long run.

"The BlackBerry is appealing to corporate users, which are high ARPU customers," said Benny Chen (陳邦仁), chief business officer of Taiwan Mobile.

Taiwan Mobile's ARPU were about NT$800 in the second quarter.

"Taiwan Mobile is making every effort to boost data usage amid falling charges for voice calls. Selling BlackBerry handsets should have a positive impact on Taiwan Mobile's ARPU," said a telecom analyst with KGI Securities (中信證券) on condition of anonymity.

But, the analyst said he did not expect to see a significant improvement in revenue following the launch, as corporate users only make up a small portion of the mobile operator's 5.29 million subscribers.

Corporate users currently make up less than 10 percent of the telecom operator's total revenues, according to Taiwan Mobile's Chen.

Adding two BlackBerry mobile phones to its product line-up, Taiwan Mobile aims to sell about 20,000 BlackBerry handsets plus new mobile numbers within the first year of the launch, said Jerry Feng (馮振武), a vice president of Taiwan Mobile's enterprise business division.

Before the launch, Taiwan Mobile will need approval from the nation's telecom regulator, the National Communications Commission (NCC), about its rate plans. The NCC said it would take at least three weeks to finish the review.

Taiwan Mobile, which submitted its rate packages to the NCC last week, has signed an agreement with RIM to offer two BlackBerry handsets, the 7290 and 8700g at a minimum charge of NT$500 per month and a flat rate of between NT$1,500 and NT$2,000.

RIM sells its BlackBerry phones to about 200 telecom operators in about 60 countries around the globe and more than 100 other telecom operators are lining up for talks with RIM to secure a deal to distribute the phones.

Separately, Taiwan Mobile said the company was also in talks with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) and Arima Communications Corp (華冠) to supply tailor-made 3G phones. It did not elaborate further.