Smart offers unlimited BlackBerry data packages at flat, prepaid rate

MANILA, Philippines - With more and more Filipinos discovering the convenience of mobile Internet, leading wireless services provider Smart Communications has partnered with Research In Motion (RIM) to offer prepaid, flat-rate, unlimited BlackBerry data packages to customers in the Philippines.

“Through this new offer, we’re empowering our subscribers by putting a wide range of mobile Internet services — from business to entertainment — in the palm of their hands, at the least cost. This strengthens our ‘Internet for All’ advocacy of bringing the benefits of the Internet to more people. We are glad to be the first operator to launch prepaid BlackBerry service packages in the country,” Smart wireless consumer division head Danilo Mojica said.

The prepaid options enable subscribers to use their BlackBerry smartphones to access their email and engage in other online activities at a fixed and affordable cost.

The new initiative makes Smart the first mobile operator in the Philippines – a predominantly prepaid market – to offer the powerful BlackBerry solution on a prepaid, flat-rate, unlimited basis, providing extremely flexible and affordable choices for consumers.

The Smart offering enables more individuals to take advantage of a BlackBerry smartphone and service, which had been only accessible to corporate clients and postpaid customers.

“Prepaid BlackBerry service plans are increasingly popular in other markets around the world and we are delighted to partner with Smart to now launch new prepaid service plans in the Philippines. Smart’s new daily and weekly prepaid plans will allow many more customers in the Philippines to purchase a BlackBerry smartphone,” RIM managing director for Southeast Asia Gregory Wade pointed out.

Individuals subscribing to the prepaid BlackBerry daily or weekly packages from Smart will have seamless and unlimited access to all the advanced features offered by BlackBerry smartphones, including push email, social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Flickr, web browsing, and instant messaging services such as BlackBerry Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, and Google Talk - all for a flat-rate price of P50 or P300.

The BlackBerry daily or weekly packages are as follow: BlackBerry daily package which offers 24 hours of unlimited data and full access to the BlackBerry platform for only P50; and BlackBerry weekly package which offers seven days of unlimited data and full access to the BlackBerry platform for only P300.