Internet phone specialist EQO Communications has announced that its EQO Mobile application supports the Blackberry Pearl, Curve and certain other handsets from Canada’s Research In Motion.

The firm advertises free or local-rate charges for long distance or international calls over carried using its system. EQO users also get cheaper messaging, it says.

“Blackberry users are typically avid communicators and by using EQO they will save a lot of money on international calls to land-line and mobile phone numbers,” said EQO CEO Bill Tam. “Add to that the ability to access your IM on MSN, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, GoogleTalk and Jabber in the same application, and you have a very appealing option for people using Blackberrys.”

EQO uses a proprietary mobile soft-switch platform and a presence-enabled Voice-over-IP (VoIP) signaling network.

EQO claims users save up to 95 per cent on all international calls, IM and texting. The service provides free calling and texting with other EQO users.

The service, which is tied to a local number in the country where it was downloaded, is available in 28 countries and on about 400 handsets.

The company has a generic Java client for most handsets, but the Blackberry version is its first native client. Symbian and Windows Mobile equivalents are due next month.

Users should be warned though that since the service shifts some voice to data, they will need a good data tariff to benefit from the savings.