Handset maker BlackBerry said that it is in discussions with regulatory authorities and telecom operators to launch its virtual SIM Provisioning (VSP) to India by the virtue of its acquisition of London based virtual identity solutions player, Movirtu. VSP basically is a virtual identity solution for mobile operators that allow using as many as nine mobile numbers on single device or SIM. The acquisition of new solution was happened in September 2014, and BlackBerry is already rolling out similar solutions in Africa, Sunil Lalvani, and Managing Director.

“On a virtual SIM platform, both a business number and a personal number can be used on a single mobile device, with separate billing for voice, data and messaging usage on each number. As a result, employees can switch between business and personal profiles easily without carrying multiple devices or SIM cards, and charges are appropriately billed to the company and the employee,” Lalvani said.

9 mobile numbers on a single SIM:

The BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) enterprise customers can be able to apply IT policies to the business number without impacting the usability of the device for personal use. VSP Solution can have a significant market in a country like India, where 3 million dual SIM’s are sold every month. Blackberry is with several carriers in India to roll out the technology and a probable timeline would be end of year 2015. It was one of the major smartphone vendors until 2012. The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies.

Features of BlackBerry:

• 5-inch touchscreen
• 16 GB storage
• And 8 MP camera

As of September 2013, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide. That number has dropped steadily, down to 46 million in September 2014. Lalvani said that “The technology to have different carriers enable different accounts on a virtual SIM is available. BlackBerry, which has been focusing on its enterprise offerings, said that according to latest financial numbers, 42 % of its business is coming from hardware, 47 per cent from services and about 10 per cent from software solutions. BlackBerry has been aggressively looking at expanding its software and services offering to the enterprise users as it loses ground in the hardware space amid stiff competition from the likes of Apple and Samsung.

According to IDC research firm, BlackBerry’s share has declined from 8.1% in October-December 2011 to 0.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2014. It has announced the launch of the new device ‘Leap’, which will be available from the month of June. The price of the device in India will be announced closer to the launch.