BlackBerry has inked a deal with Optiemus Infracom to licence software and services for the production of Android handsets in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Under the terms of the agreement, BlackBerry will licence its security software and services suite, as well as related brand assets to Optiemus Infracom Ltd, a Delhi-based telecom enterprise.
Optiemus Infracom Ltd will follow BlackBerry‘s recent global licensing agreement with TCL Communication and PT BlackBerry Merah Putih in Indonesia. The company will license its security software and services suite, as well as related brand assets to the latter, which will design, manufacture, sell, promote and provide customer support for BlackBerry-branded mobile devices.
Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry, in a statement.
With its infrastructure and experience in manufacturing, and proven success as our distribution partner, Optiemus Infracom Ltd is the ideal partner to design and manufacture trusted BlackBerry secure Android handsets for customers in India and neighbouring markets.
Ashok Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom Ltd said,
With our strong end to end play in the mobile ecosystem in manufacturing, retail, distribution and support, we are confident that our journey with BlackBerry will be a long and successful one.
BlackBerry will continue to control and develop its security and software solutions and maintain trusted BlackBerry security software, including regular Android security updates to the platform. The Canadian smartphone maker is already in a partnership with Optiemus since November last year for distribution and sale of its DTEK50 and DTEK60 handsets. These devices continue to be available through the company’s distribution network.