KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom (M) Bhd launched its new BlackBerry Internet service for personal users here yesterday that is expected to boost its data service revenue, its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly said.
He said: “The growth is there. If we can continue to boost our data services, not only just through enterprises but also personal users, we presume the numbers will show an upward trend for the second half of this year.”
In the first half of this year, Celcom’s data service sector accounted for 20% of the company’s total revenue compared with 17% a year earlier.
Together with the recent launch of its new mobile broadband service on July 31, Shazalli said the latest BlackBerry Internet service for personal users would give a tremendous push for its data services revenue.
He expected the second half of this year to see a higher 3G average revenue per user (ARPU) compared with the RM123 per month in the second quarter. Its postpaid ARPU in the second quarter was RM117 per month, and prepaid ARPU RM53 per month.
On the new BlackBerry Internet service for personal users that was targeted at the mass market, he said it was an additional offering to its BlackBerry enterprise server, which was launched in June at CommunicAsia in Singapore.
“Now highly mobile and busy individuals can stay connected anytime and virtually anywhere, while on the go,” he said.
He added that its new service allowed mobile users to access to Internet-based email accounts while staying connected through instant messaging from Yahoo!, Gmail and Blackberry messenger.
“For this particular new service, we have signed up with more than 600 IT resellers to complement our current mobile phone vendors,” he said, adding that the complexity of this new service was more attuned to IT retail outlets.
Currently, he said the new BlackBerry Internet service is available at the 18 Celcom branches and five Blue Cube outlets. “Hopefully in two weeks, the extension of this product will be available at these outlets (IT resellers),” Shazalli said.
The new BlackBerry Internet service comes in two packages — RM98 for the advance package, and RM38 for the basic package a month. Celcom also offers two BlackBerry smart phones with the Blackberry 8707v (3G-enabled) priced at RM2299, and the Blackberry Pearl at RM1799 for the package.
Celcom’s BlackBerry enterprise server, which caters to the enterprise market, was initially launched last September under a partnership agreement with UK-based Vodafone Group.
He said the company planned to expand its international roaming service, which is currently offered in119 countries, to South America and Africa in the near future.
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