The BlackBerry is moving closer to breaking into China after eight years of opposition from Beijing as Research in Motion, the group behind the e-mail service, steps up talks with the country’s largest mobile operator.

A long-mooted deal with China Mobile stands to boost RIM’s user base, which is fast approaching 10 million, by 25 per cent, analysts suggest.

RIM registered the BlackBerry trademark in China in 1999, shortly after launching the handheld device in North America. In 2004 it signed a letter of agreement with China Mobile with a view to making BlackBerry handsets available in China’s leading financial centres.

China Mobile, in which Vodafone, the British mobile group, holds a minority stake, is seen as a prize partner. It has nearly 300 million customers, the most clients of any mobile group.

Despite intense lobbying from Canadian officials and politicians, the Toronto-based RIM had failed until recently to win permission to sell handsets from the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry. In its absence, a host of local rivals, offering the same “push e-mail” technology that underpins the BlackBerry, have blossomed. Last year China Unicom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, introduced a device dubbed the RedBerry.

Last week, however, James L. Balsillie, RIM’s chief executive, hinted that the impasse was on the verge of being broken, saying that there were plans to serve corporate customers in Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Reports in the Canadian press yesterday said that the regulatory roadblock has now been surpassed and that the BlackBerry 8700g hand-set will go on sale in China at the end of August for about $700 (£350).

A Beijing-based executive for RIM told Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper that the company had taken 5,000 advance orders. An RIM spokesman declined to comment further and China Mobile could not be reached last night.

Entry into China, a market with more than 500 million mobile users, would boost RIM as it battles with Apple’s iPhone in the United States.

Last week RIM, which operates in Hong Kong, Japan, India and South Korea, unveiled a 73 per cent rise in first-quarter sales, which topped $1 billion for the first time. The group reported profits of $223.2 million, up from $128.8 million in the same quarter last year.

RIM shares were up 1.2 per cent in New York at $210 in afternoon deals. The stock was about $130 in January.

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