First to China, now to Russia. Russian mobile carriers MTS and Vimplecom have confirmed that they’re set to start selling BlackBerrys in the first quarter of 2008. They recently received permission from state security services, the final hurdle to implementation.
MTS and Vimpelcom have not been able to bring the BlackBerry to Russia for several years as the FSB [ed. note: successors to the KGB] required RIM to provide codes it uses to encrypt traffic. The companies did not say on what basis the compromise had been reached.
The deal is good for one year, though with success it will likely be extended.
MTS Vice President Mikhail Shamolin, speaking on a conference call, said the level of security and confidentiality would match the global standards of the BlackBerry services.
This is a nice follow up to MTS’s launching of the BlackBerry in Ukraine, a story we apparently missed, back in October.
[Reuters]
