At about the same time with the introduction in Alaska of three new (but not that new for the rest of the world) BlackBerry smartphones, Research In Motion has just announced the availability of prepaid BlackBerry services for Indian mobile users (showing just how international the company is). This comes following an agreement with Reliance Communications, India's second largest mobile carrier. 

A first for India, the new services are intended to help customers in need of cost-effective solutions, allowing them to have better control over their wireless-related expenses. The new prepaid services are available on lots of BlackBerry smartphones from Reliance's lineup, including:

– BlackBerry 8830 World Edition, the handset that can operate both on GMS and CDMA networks

– BlackBerry Curve 8330 GSM

– BlackBerry Curve 8330 CDMA

– BlackBerry Pearl 8100 GSM

– BlackBerry Pearl 8130 CDMA

– and the old(er) BlackBerry 8703e CDMA

Basically, with the introduction of prepaid services, Indian mobile users will be able to buy BlackBerry smartphones without having to sign any contract agreement with Reliance.

"We recognize the needs of customers and believe a prepaid option enabled by Reliance Communications will significantly broaden the consumer interest in BlackBerry smartphones and expand our business opportunity," stated Mr. Mahesh Prasad, president of Mobile Data and Content Services at Reliance Communications.

The prices of the above-mentioned BlackBerry handsets with prepaid services were not announced, though Indian mobile users should be able to find them out in any of Reliance's stores from across the Asian country.

India currently has more than 260 million mobile subscribers, about 200 million of them using prepaid services. Thus, Reliance's new BlackBerry options target a huge number of users (although only few of them can probably afford a BlackBerry smartphone).

All in all, it's nice to see RIM coming up with new services in India – hopefully, the Canadian manufacturer will soon introduce the BlackBerry Bold there too.