Viettel Corp., Vietnam's largest mobile operator in terms of subscriber numbers, plans to distribute Research In Motion's BlackBerry handsets from October, a company official said Monday.

"Viettel has signed a contract to import more than 4,000 handsets for the first time for the domestic market and expects to import more later," said the official.

Viettel will provide full services for BlackBerry handsets and is expected to be the sole distributor for RIM in Vietnam, the official told Dow Jones Newswires.

Viettel's first consignment will include four handset models - the BlackBerry 8100, 8320, 8700 and 8800, she added.

Currently, Viettel has 24 million mobile users, accounting for 40% of the country's market, company figures show.

Source:Dow Jones