Canada lends Telefónica £170m to buy BlackBerry phones

Government loan helps Spanish telecoms group to buy BlackBerry's latest technology

The Canadian government has handed Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica a US$257m (£170m) loan to assist in buying BlackBerry products and services.

The decision was taken after BlackBerry financials, revealed last week, showed a $280m (£425m) loss in the last financial year, coupled with a 40 per cent drop in revenue.

Export Development Canada, the country's national export-credit agency, said that the loan would "facilitate BlackBerry market share growth within Telefónica" and would serve to "make the purchase [of phones and services] and related lending easier, quicker and more efficient for all parties".

"There appears to be a need for financing for [Telefónica] at this time," it added.

The news follows a week of other minor issues for the BlackBerry company - formally known as RIM or Research in Motion.

On 28 March, it was reported that the last remaining founder of RIM, vice-chairman Mike Lazaridis, is leaving the company on 1 May.

While saying that current CEO Thorsten Heins and his team "did an excellent job" in completing and launching BlackBerry 10, the timing of his departure to the relative obscurity of a "quantum information company" suggests he may not be fully supportive of the company's direction.

He has also suggested that, prior to the appointment of Heins, the board wanted him to assume the role of sole CEO.

It was also revealed on 5 April that BlackBerry is closing down BBM Music - a streaming music service - following a "strategic business review".

The move is being read by some commentators as an indicator of the waning popularity of BlackBerry's "ecosystem" in the US market, which seems increasingly stricken.

Back in the UK, Carphone Warehouse has announced that it is taking preorders of the BlackBerry Q10 - the qwerty keyboard-based smartphone that will sit along the flagship, buttonless Z10 model - for the princely sum of £600 a unit.

The device is set to launch at the end of April.

Computing has contacted Carphone Warehouse to seek the justification for asking such an unusually high price, and will update if the retailer provides comment.