Princess launches BlackBerry service
  By Farah Ahmadnawi

BlackBerry Smartphone enthusiasts in Brunei will now be able to enjoy DST's highly anticipated BlackBerry service which was launched by Her Royal Highness Princess Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah yesterday.

The BlackBerry launch took place at the Empire Hotel and Country Club yesterday morning. Also in attendance to witness the event were Ministers, Deputy Ministers and officers from the government and private sector.

DST and Research in Motion (RIM) yesterday announced the introduction of this world famous service here in Brunei in the presence of their Royal guest.

In his speech, Idris Vasi, Chief Executive Officer of DST Group spoke of DST's milestone of taking a big step partnering with RIM, Canadian-based mobile industry players to deliver meaningful mobile data experiences to consumers and business users.

"Finding the right balance between investments in network infrastructure, software, services and smart end-points is crucial for us as we evolve from a consumer focused service provider to a consumer plus business-focused service provider.

He went on to say, "This launch increases our service and product portfolio and aligns us better with our customer requirements, as DST is always looking for innovative new services and capabilities to offer our customers."

Mr Idris Vasi added, "The launch of BlackBerry solution will increase the number of smartphone users in Brunei and should lead to a corresponding increase in data-usage and Value-Added Services from DST."

Meanwhile, Gregory Wade, Managing Director, Southeast Asia at RIM said, "Both business users and consumers in Brunei will be able to take advantage of the BlackBerry solution and enjoy easy access to the people and information that are most important to them throughout their day."

The BlackBerry solution serves to bring together smartphones, software and services for the convenience of easy wireless to email, messaging, social networking, phone, calendar, web, multimedia and other business or lifestyle applications.

DST offers three types of service plan, each with different pricing and features offered. The data plans are only available for DST post-paid subscriptions. They may opt to subscribe to a new plan or add to their existing Prima subscription.

BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is priced at $25 per month and designed to fit smaller business and personal use where it allows access up to 10 supported corporate and personal email accounts. It also provides automatic synchronisation of messages between the Blackberry smartphone and email accounts.

Meanwhile, business customers or corporate group can opt to connect to the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution (BES). At $45 per month, it offers email or personal information management, corporate data and business applications.

For customers who wish to connect to all the features from both plans can subscribe for the combined BES+BIS data plan allowing organisations with an in-house email server and access to web-based email accounts in addition to the corporate email account priced $55 per month.

DST customers will be able to purchase the sleek and elegant Bold 9700 Smartphone BlackBerry and service registration will be available at the DST Carnival until December 5 taking place at the BRIDEX International Conference Centre in Jerudong.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to experience BlackBerry devices and services and other services and promotion offered by DST at the carnival.

The BlackBerry Service launching and DST Carnival are held in conjunction with DST's 15th anniversary, celebrating their many milestones in the field of infocommunication and currently reaching a base of 400,000 prepaid and post-paid subscribers for 2G and 3G networks. - Borneo Bulletin (4th December 2010)


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