MTN Nigeria decommissions Blackberry

ITRealms:

MTN Nigeria has decommissioned its Blackberry service, urging subscribers to migrate to ‘smartphones’ reports ITRealms.
 

The leading telco in a Short Messaging Service (SMS) to its subscribers still using Blackberry, MTN said that from January 27, 2017, it would decommission Blackberry service on the network.

Part of the SMS read: “Dear customer, MTN Blackberry service will be decommissioned on 27/01/2017. Please upgrade to a smartphone and enjoy 100 per cent bonus on any data bundle purchased.” 

This move by MTN, ITRealms gathered will adversely affect the fortunes of Blackberry in the Nigerian telecom space.

ITRealms reports that MTN Nigeria was among the first to introduce Blackberry service at the early stage of advent of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).

Also ITRealms recalled that mid-2016 saw the Canadian-based Blackberry proclaiming that it would seize production of phones, according to the chief executive and executive chairman of Blackberry, Mr. John Chen.

“The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to our partners. We are focusing on software development, including security and applications,” he said.

 
Oye Midele/GEE
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Team Jim unveils Visafone Blackberry on CDMA

The team of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) investors led by business mogul and chairman of Visafone Communications, Mr. Jim Ovia, on Wednesday in Lagos unveiled BlackBerry smartphone on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA).

This was facilitated by a partnership deal struck between Visafone Communications and Research-In-Motion (RIM), the owners of BlackBerry brand.

According to the chief executive officer of Visafone, Mr. K.V. Srinivasa, said the telecom company and all its outlets nationwide as well as accredited retail shops would offer on sale the Blackberry series as from October 29th, 2012.3

Regional director at RIM for East, Central and West Africa, Mr. Waldi Wepener expressed excitement on the development and promised to support Visafone in achieving the objective in offering Blackberry on CDMA.

Some of the smartphones penciled for the deal and on offer includes BlackBerry Bold 9930, Curve 9310 and Curve 9370.

Ovia told ITRealms that he is satisfied with the partnership, hence he as an investor backed the deal 100 per cent.

 

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RIM President forewarns of loss in Q1

President, Research In Motion (RIM) and makers of BlackBerry, Mr. Thorsten Heins has warned the company is likely to report an operating loss for its next financial quarter, ending June 2, with “lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace” impacting the business.
 
Heins reiterated that the troubled company is undergoing a “significant transformation” as it moved towards the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 OS meaning “financial performance will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters."

The RIM CEO made the comments during a business update, which is part of his previous pledge to provide “candid and timely updates when possible on the progress and challenges RIM is experiencing."


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