Blackberry has officially signed a deal with Indian company Optiemus to use its AAndroid-based security software. Optiemus is an Indian smartphone distribution company who has been distributing the DTEK50 and DTEK60 smartphones since November.

Under the new agreement, the Indian firm will have the right to design manufacture and distribute smartphones carrying the BlackBerry branding. The smartphones will come with the proprietary BlackBerry security software inside. The license agreement will allow Optiemus to sell BlackBerry branded smartphones in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry says,

“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. This is an important milestone in our strategy to put ‘the smart in the phone’, providing state-of-the-art security and device software on a platform relevant to mobile customers, with more localization. With its infrastructure and experience in manufacturing and proven success as our distribution partner, Optiemus Infracom Ltd is the ideal partner to design and manufacture trusted BlackBerry secure Android handsets for customers in India and neighboring markets.”

Mr. Ashok Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom Ltd. says,

“Our exclusive partnership with BlackBerry, a brand synonymous with secure mobile communications, shows how we are continuing to partner and innovate to bring the latest in handset design and experience, combining the security of BlackBerry and versatility of Android, to our customers in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market. This agreement will help us expand mobility choices by designing, manufacturing and offering secure BlackBerry devices which are made in India, for customers in India, as well as Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. With our strong end to end play in the mobile ecosystem in manufacturing, retail, distribution and support, we are confident that our journey with BlackBerry will be a long and successful one.”

This is a major breakthrough for BlackBerry to enter the world’s fastest growing market. This move is also a testament to BlackBerry’s commitment to transform itself into a software and security company. Under the new BlackBerry Strategy, BlackBerry has previously announced that it will focus on software innovation while handing over the hardware design, development, and distribution to third parties.

Previously BlackBerry has signed such a deal with TCL in China under which TCL has produced three devices DTEK50, DTEK60, and BlackBerry Mercury. All these three smartphones come with BlackBerry brand name and BlackBerry Android security software suite. BlackBerry has also signed another such deal will PT BB Merah Putin in Indonesia.