Lagos, Nigeria; Dubai, UAE and Waterloo, ON - Celtel Nigeria Limited, Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) and Emitac Mobile Solutions LLC (EMS) today launched the BlackBerry® wireless solution in Nigeria.
The BlackBerry® solution combines innovative smartphones, software and services to provide enhanced communications, productivity and flexibility to large organizations, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals on the go.
The introduction of the BlackBerry solution further reinforces Celtel Nigeria’s presence in the mobility market. With the BlackBerry solution, Celtel Nigeria’s customers can gain easy mobile access to email (including attachment viewing), phone, organiser, web, multimedia and a wide variety of business and lifestyle applications.
At launch, Celtel Nigeria will offer customers a choice of BlackBerry smartphones including the BlackBerry® Curve ™ 8300, the BlackBerry® 8800, and the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8100, which is also available in three colours.
Celtel, EMS and RIM have collaborated to introduce the BlackBerry solution to several Zain Networks across Africa and the Middle East including Celtel Kenya and Celtel Uganda.
Celtel Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Adebayo Ligali commented, “I have no doubt that many Celtel customers have eagerly been anticipating the launch of the BlackBerry solution in Nigeria.” He added, “The tie-in to our recently launched One Network service, which links all of our operations in Africa, will ensure a truly unique offering for our customers. We are always eager to introduce services that will further empower our customers to become more efficient and effective both when they are in the traditional work or business environment and outside the office or in remote locations. The BlackBerry solution will give our customers greater control of their lives and time and help them keep connected to people and information when they are on the move.”
Charmaine Eggberry, Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA at RIM added: “We are pleased to be working with Celtel and EMS to bring the benefits of the BlackBerry solution to Celtel customers in Nigeria. The BlackBerry solution is acclaimed by organisations and individuals around the world for its empowering quality that enables people to stay connected to the people and information that matter most.”
Emitac Mobile Solution (EMS), RIM's strategic channel partner in the region, will be working hand in hand with Celtel Nigeria to deliver a compelling customer proposition. “We are extremely pleased to partner with Celtel Nigeria to deliver an unrivalled experience to their customers providing a leading and complete wireless solution,” said Babar Khan, CEO of EMS. “We believe that the market in Nigeria will respond positively to the BlackBerry solution and our intention is to continue supporting Celtel in developing and expanding their range of BlackBerry solutions.”
BlackBerry smartphones available from Celtel Nigeria The BlackBerry Curve 8300 is the smallest and lightest full-QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone, and comes packed with comprehensive multimedia features including an integrated camera. The BlackBerry Curve offers a robust blend of communications, multimedia and web features to provide users with an exceptional mobile companion for both work and leisure.
The slim and stylish BlackBerry 8800 smartphone is packed with powerful communications capabilities, a large bright colour display, a high-capacity removable battery, built-in GPS with BlackBerry® Maps, a media player and an expandable memory slot.
The BlackBerry Pearl 8100 is the smallest and lightest BlackBerry smartphone measuring a mere 107mm x 50mm x 14.5mm and weighing just 89 grams. In addition to supporting phone, email, messaging, organiser, web browser and other mobile applications, the BlackBerry Pearl also incorporates a digital camera, MP3 player, video player and an expandable memory slot.
Celtel Nigeria will offer customers two options for services and software.
Designed for corporate customers, the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server software integrates with IBM Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data. In addition to BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Celtel Nigeria is offering BlackBerry® Internet Service for individuals and smaller businesses. This service allows users to access up to ten supported personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts) from a single device.
A number of Celtel networks and other sister telecom companies under the Zain Group, have launched the BlackBerry solution in collaboration with EMS and RIM.
About Celtel Nigeria Limited
Formerly known as Vmobile Nigeria, the company was established in 2000, by a group of institutional and private investors as well as three state governments.
The company made history on August 5, 2001 by becoming the first telecoms operator to launch commercial GSM services in Nigeria. In May, 2006 Celtel acquired a majority stake in the company and re-branded the company to Celtel in September. Celtel in Nigeria is now an important part of Celtel’s pan-African operations spanning 14 countries and serving more than 15 million customers.
The company is pursuing an aggressive network rollout as well as a quality and customer service upgrade in the quest to realise its vision of ‘Making life better’, not just for its customers but for all Nigerians.
The network, which currently covers over 600 towns and 8000 communities across the six geopolitical zones of the country, scored a series of many other "firsts" in the highly competitive Nigerian telecommunications market.
First to introduce toll-free 24-hour customer care line-111 First to launch service in all the six geo-political zones in the country First to introduce N500 recharge card First to commence emergency service (Celtel 199) First to introduce monthly free SMS First to introduce monthly airtime bonus First to commence 3G/HSDPA Trial Test First to introduce Unity or flat tariff (same tariff across networks) First to introduce free Sunday Calls Offer www.ng.celtel.com
About EMS
Emitac Mobile Solutions (EMS) is a Dubai based solutions and service provider and RIM strategic channel partner focused on the delivery, implementation and support of BlackBerry® Solutions. Delivered by an experienced team of mobile professionals, EMS provides the mobile operator with sales, marketing, distribution, solution implementation and technical support services for the BlackBerry wireless platform from Research In Motion (RIM). For organizations using the BlackBerry wireless platform, EMS provides the ability to rapidly create, deploy and manage robust client-server wireless applications that reduce an organization's total cost of ownership and significantly increases the value of their mobile technology investment. EMS is the region’s first Mobile Virtual Solutions Provider (MVSP) whose services are delivered through partnerships the company has with mobile operators in the Gulf, North Africa and Eastern Europe. For more information about EMS please visit the Company website at http://www.emsmobile.com
About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM's portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around the world and include the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.BlackBerry.com .
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