Carriers are pressuring RIM to cut service fees

BlackBerry services bring an annual revenue of around $4.1 billion every year. Carriers such as AT&T and Verizon aren’t happy with the sums they have to pay to use ‘Berry services, plus BlackBerry is the only smartphone maker that charges the carriers for using its service.

“There’s definitely negotiations going on right now to reduce” the fees, according to Sameet Kanade, technology analyst at Northern Securities.

The very same analyst expects those fees that carriers pay will be slashed by 17% this year and additional 18% next year, so RIM ends up getting only $2.8 billion in fiscal 2014.

At the same time, RIM will do its best to retain the literally life-saving revenue from services. “RIM intends to continue generating a revenue stream from the services we offer,” RIM spokesman Nick Manning said, but denied to comment on the carrier price reductions.

source: Financial Post