BlackBerry may have inked an exclusive manufacturing deal with China-based TCL but the deal excludes some key markets like India. BlackBerry had been planning for long to start manufacturing smartphones in India but since it has given up on making its own smartphones, the company has now inked a deal with Optiemus Infracom which will manufacture BlackBerry-branded Android smartphones in India for India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

“With this latest regional deal, BlackBerry has now achieved full global coverage for licensees in all markets to manufacture BlackBerry-branded devices, proving the company is delivering on its licensing strategy and accelerating its transition to being a leading security software and services company,” BlackBerry said in a statement.

BlackBerry has given a license of its security software and service suite to Optiemus Infracom. Optiemus is now going to design, manufacture, sell, promote, and provide customer service for BlackBerry-branded devices in the aforementioned markets. Optiemus is also going to provide Android Secure software for devices sold in these markets.

“India is a very important market for BlackBerry, so we are delighted our latest licensing partnership will extend the BlackBerry software experience to more customers and support the Indian government’s Make In India agenda,” said Alex Thurber, the senior vice president and general manager mobility solutions at BlackBerry.

BlackBerry has also signed a similar licensing agreement with PT BlackBerry Merah Putih in Indonesia. It already has an existing partnership with Optiemus since November last year for the distribution and sale of the DTEK50 and DTEK60 smartphones.

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