BlackBerry partners with Optiemus to manufacture handsets in India

New Delhi, Feb 6: Canadian mobile maker BlackBerry on Monday announced its partnership with Optiemus, a Delhi-based telecom enterprise to licence software and services for the production of secure 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.

The partner will design, manufacture, sell, promote and provide customer support for BlackBerry-branded mobile devices that offer the full BlackBerry experience, including the trusted BlackBerry for Android secure software.

"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," said Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry, in a statement.

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.

"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," added Ashok Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom Ltd.

The agreement with Optiemus Infracom Ltd expands on an existing relationship announced in November 2016, for the distribution and sale of the DTEK50 and DTEK60 by BlackBerry, the company's DTEK series of secure Android smartphones with BlackBerry Security Software inside.

These devices continue to be available through the company's distribution network.