After a long wait, Tata Teleservices [Get Quote] on Thursday launched the premium Blackberry mobile services that offers customers e-mail, SMS messaging and Internet-based applications.

Tatas were denied permission to launch services by the government amidst security concerns, although other leading cellular operators like Bharti Airtel [Get Quote], Vodafone-Essar and

Reliance Communications [Get Quote] have been offering these services for more than a year now.

It was only after telecom secretary Siddartha Behura said recently that no permission was required from the government to launch the services, Tatas firmed up plans to roll out the service.

Announcing the launch of Blackberry from Tata Indicom, Anil Sardana, MD, Tata Teleservices, said: "We take immense pride in launching the much-awaited Blackberry solution - an office on the move for corporate executives and business professionals."

The company has launched the CDMA-based Blackberry services that also offers international roaming on GSM/GPRS networks.

Together with a "one world - one number" card, Tata Indicom users can access e-mail and data, as well as make and receive domestic and international calls, nationwide on the Tata Indicom CDMA network in India and around the world on GSM/GPRS networks.

In the meanwhile, the National Security Advisor has been looking into the security issues associated with Blackberry.