Viva, Alcatel-Lucent and RIM launch the BlackBerry solution in Kuwait

Viva customers will now be able to enjoy the benefits of enhanced communications and increased productivity by using a Blackberry smartphone to access email, browse the web, make phone calls, send and receive text and picture messages, run multimedia applications, as well as access a wide variety of other business and leisure applications on the move.

At launch Viva will offer customers the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and BlackBerry Bold smartphones as well as service with BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service.

The BlackBerry Bold smartphone is a communications and multimedia powerhouse. It is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world and comes with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g).

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 packs a wide range of advanced communications and multimedia capabilities into a compact and stylish design - it is the thinnest and lightest full-QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone available. As with all BlackBerry smartphones, both handsets give users the industry's leading mobile email and messaging solution together with access to a wide range of other mobile business and consumer applications.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server is for organizations that manage their own email servers.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise and uses advanced encryption and IT policy controls to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data. BlackBerry Internet Service is designed for smaller businesses and individuals.

It allows customers to access up to 10 supported corporate and personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts such as Yahoo! Mail and Google Mail) from a single device.

Based on its distribution agreement with RIM, Alcatel-Lucent is leveraging its strong local presence in the region to provide Viva with end-to-end support services for the BlackBerry solution. With Alcatel-Lucent managing integration and deployment, Viva can focus on delivering customer facing services, enabling the operator to quickly meet market demand.

"As a leader of innovative services, we are committed to expanding our portfolio with the most advanced telecom solutions. More and more customers in Kuwait would like to get easy access to their emails and calendar information when they are on the move and enjoy other advanced communications and multimedia features. The launch of the BlackBerry solution in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent and RIM is a good example of international cooperation. It falls in line with our principle 'to give more to subscribers'. We are proud to offer our customers this efficient and effective service, which has already become a hit among business users and individuals around the world,"

said Eng. Najeeb Al-Awadhi, Viva CEO.

"This contract further reinforces Alcatel-Lucent's ability to leverage our global strengths and local presence to deliver enterprise managed communications and value-added services, enabling the operator to quickly meet market demand. As a result, Viva customers will enjoy the freedom and flexibility of the BlackBerry solution for staying connected to people and information whenever they wish," said Vincenzo Nesci, Vice-president of Alcatel-Lucent's activities in the Middle East and Africa.

"We are pleased to work with Alcatel-Lucent and Viva to introduce the BlackBerry solution to Viva customers in Kuwait. BlackBerry smartphones are popular with people around the world who want well-balanced mobile phones that deliver advanced features, refined usability and stylish designs,"

said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at RIM.