BlackBerry to 'Make In India', inks deal with Delhi-based Optiemus Infracom

BlackBerry has inked a deal with Optiemus Infracom for manufacturing BlackBerry Android handsets in India. The company plans to make phones locally in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

 

BlackBerry and Optiemus had teamed up last year in November for distribution and sale of its DTEK50 and DTEK60 handsets. These devices continue to be available through the company's distribution network.

 

The exclusive, long-term licensing agreement with the Indian telecom enterprise follows BlackBerry's recent global licensing agreement with TCL Communication and PT BlackBerry Merah Putih in Indonesia. 

 

"With this latest regional deal, BlackBerry has now achieved full global coverage for licensees in all markets to manufacture BlackBerry-branded devices, proving the company is delivering on its licensing strategy and accelerating its transition to be a leading security software and services company," BlackBerry said in a statement.

 

The agreement between BlackBerry and Optiemus Infracom also supports the Indian government's 'Make in India' initiative. Under the terms of the agreement, BlackBerry will license its security software and services suite, as well as related brand assets to Optiemus Infracom. 

 

Optiemus will design, manufacture, sell, promote and provide customer support for BlackBerry-branded mobile devices that offer the full BlackBerry experience, including the BlackBerry for Android secure software, in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

 

BlackBerry will continue to control and develop security and software solutions and maintain the BlackBerry security software, including regular Android security updates, it said. Once a dominant player in the smartphone category, BlackBerry has been struggling in recent years against global competitors like Samsung and Apple. The company has taken a number of steps, including adopting the Android platform for powering its phones in attempts to re-capture its position.

 

"India is a very important market for BlackBerry, so we are delighted our latest licensing partnership will extend the BlackBerry software experience to more customers and support the Indian government's 'Make In India' agenda," BlackBerry Senior Vice President, General Manager, Mobility Solutions, Alex Thurber said.

 

Ashok Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom, said that with the company's strong end-to-end play in the mobile ecosystem in manufacturing, retail, distribution and support, it is confident that the journey with BlackBerry will be a long and successful one.

 

Apple met Indian officials on 25 January and put forth its key demands including Countervailing duties (CVD) exemption. Apple is looking for the government's assurance on the CVD exemption to continue for the next 15 years. It fears that in the future to push domestic manufacturing, it may impose countervailing duties. It is looking for further relaxations under M-SIPSS and some other demands included relaxation in labelling, building devices only for Indian market and more. Here's what Apple reportedly wants from the Indian government.

 

On the other hand, another report points out that under the GST regime this may not be possible. It is quite likely that that all CVD exemptions would go.

 

With inputs from PTI