[BB10fanatic]

Research in Motion Ltd (BBRY): $256M Loan for Telefonica to Expand BB10 Reach … Good Move or Huge Gamble? - Insider Monkey

Today, Export Development Canada, the Canadian export credit agency, announced that it has provided a �200 million ($256 million) working capital facility to Telefonica, one of the world�s biggest mobile operators, to procure BlackBerry smartphones, services and solutions for its global footprint, which covers 315.7 million subscribers across 24 countries.

BlackBerry last week posted better than expected quarterly results, but it�s not out of the woods yet, and this shows that Canada, by way of the EDC, is now stepping in to help.

The deal underscores the fact that while BlackBerry is pushing very hard for a turnaround with the launch of BB10 and a raft of new devices, it still needs to do a lot of legwork to convince carriers that they should be making the extra investment to stock its devices. Figures out earlier this week from Kantar Worldpanel Comtech noted that RIM�s share of handset sales in once-key markets like the U.S. had dwindled to just 0.7% of sales in the 12 weeks to the end of February, down from an already very sad 3.6% a year ago.

Gartner today published numbers that project that BlackBerry will only account for 1.3% of global smartphone shipments in 2013, with that proportion only getting smaller in the years ahead.

This injection of capital for one of the world�s biggest carriers ensures that Telefonica will be making the investment to get those phones out to the market. It�s a particularly important deal for BlackBerry because Telefonica has a large footprint in emerging markets in Latin America.

This is one area where BlackBerry has continued to see some interest in its devices, and it�s also still one of fastest-growing regions for smartphone adoption, at a time when more mature markets have already become more saturated, slower growing and �won� by Android-based handset makers and Apple.

It also happens that one of Telefonica�s key partners for new services in Latin America, Bango, is the billing partner for BlackBerry in its app store � meaning that it�s in Telefonica�s interest to get more Bango-enabled handsets out into the market to help it succeed in its own efforts to get users charging content to their phone bills (and making more revenue for Telefonica in the process).

A recent order for 1 million BB10 handsets, reportedly by Brightstar, also underscores this trend of focusing on newer markets. Brightstar has a strong global footprint for helping to distribute mobile devices.

Today�s news is also a sign of how carriers, worried about taking risks on devices that are not guaranteed, sure-fire hits, may no longer be willing to gamble as they have done before on procuring handsets that are long-shots.

�EDC�s financing is really about making the transactions between BlackBerry and Telef�nica easier, helping to enhance and broaden the relationship between these two major global players,� said Lewis Megaw, Regional Vice President Africa Europe and the Middle East, EDC, in a statement.

This is not the first time that the EDC has worked with Telefonica. It has been providing financing since 2006 �in support of its various Canadian procurement needs.� Those would have presumably also included deals with the likes of Nortel, the now-defunct Canadian telecoms vendor.

Release below.

OTTAWA, April 4, 2013 /CNW/ � Export Development Canada (EDC) today announced that it has provided a �200M working capital facility to Telef�nica to facilitate the procurement of BlackBerry� smartphones, services and solutions across its worldwide operations.

Telef�nica is one of the largest global telecommunications companies, with operations in 24 countries and a customer base of over 315.7 million subscribers. EDC�s working capital facility will facilitate BlackBerry market share growth within Telef�nica.
�EDC�s financing is really about making the transactions between BlackBerry and Telef�nica easier, helping to enhance and broaden the relationship between these two major global players,� said Lewis Megaw , Regional Vice President Africa Europe and the Middle East, EDC.

EDC has provided financing to Telef�nica since 2006 in support of its various Canadian procurement needs.

Two-way trade between Canada and Spain reached CAD 2.6 billion in 2012, primarily in the ICT, Aerospace and Extractive sectors. Of that, over 500 Canadian companies used EDC�s services to undertake more than CAD 414.8 million in trade with Spain in 2012.
In 2012, over 1,000 Canadian exporters and investors in the ICT sector used EDC products and services to facilitate more than CAD 8.4 billion in international business.

About EDC

EDC is Canada�s export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. EDC�s knowledge and partnerships are used by more than 7,400 Canadian companies and their global customers in up to 200 markets worldwide each year. EDC is financially self-sustaining and a recognized leader in financial reporting and economic analysis.

[jesse_h]

This is interesting, and odd. A non-Canadian company has secured a loan from Canada to purchase Canadian made technology. They've done it before, so i guess it's not that odd.

I don't know much about Export Development Canada, but it's obvious that they're role is to help expand Canada's exports.

All in all, it's great.

[Double_J75]

Wow you are fast. I was going to post the same thing lol. From another article I read they speculated it would work out to be half a million phones.

[LadyOfTheLAN]

This is great news for Canada and BBRY. Good for Export Development Canada - finally something good out of Ottawa.

[Omnitech]

Nice. Apparently the Z10 is rolling out in Ecuador this week.

[Kris Erickson]

Yet I saw not one blog site or news report mention this they day it broke. No BRG, Cnet, Forbes, WSJ. etc.. Lose Home Depot account the sky is falling, DoD miss places 14000 cell phones etc and again no mention of that.

[Omnitech]

Yet I saw not one blog site or news report mention this they day it broke. No BRG, Cnet, Forbes, WSJ. etc.. Lose Home Depot account the sky is falling, DoD miss places 14000 cell phones etc and again no mention of that.

Not only that, certain 2-bit Wall St analysts were recycling that Home Depot story and a bunch of other old BS on the same day that story broke too.

Those 2-bit stock shorting turds are like pugnacious bulldogs determined to drive the stock down no matter what. Good thing most of the organizations with a clue don't listen to 'em.