Blackberry maker RIM must install server in India: Govt

New Delhi, May 20 : The Government has informed Canada-based Research In Mobile (RIM), the company which has developed Blackberry, that it will not accept anything less than installation of servers and requisite equipment in India — to tap e-mails sent through Blackberry — as a solution to the current security problems. The company, on its part, has said that it would propose a solution to the department of telecommunications (DoT) by the end of this month, said sources.

Communications and information technology minister A Raja, too, said that RIM was expected to resolve the security concerns about its BlackBerry wireless e-mail device in two months. He was speaking on the sidelines of a technology conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The Blackberry is a hand-held device that enables e-mail access. Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance are already offering Blackberry services. At present, four services are possible through Blackberry handsets. These are voice telephony, SMS, e-mail from Blackberry to Blackberry and e-mail from Blackberry to other internet service providers (ISPs) or non-Blackberry phones.

The issue about which the government has expressed concern is Blackberry-to-Blackberry e-mail. In all other cases, it is possible to tap voice or messages. Currently, Research In Mobile has its server at Hong Kong. The government wants the company to locate its server in India so that the security agencies can have more direct control over the data that passes through it.

Minister of state for communications and information technology (IT) Jyotiraditya Scindia recently informed the Lok Sabha that the Blackberry now has about 1,14,000 subscribers in the country. This is not a big number by global standards, which is probably why the company doesn’t find it economically viable to have its server in India, a move that it would increase both Capex and Opex.

“All countries have different requirements regarding security issues. We are not concerned about whether RIM meets security requirements in other countries or not. We want it to meet our security requirements,” said an official.

RIM is currently operating services in 13 countries. The present problem with Blackberry cropped up when Tata Teleservices was not granted permission to operate the services.

While the government has pointed out that e-mails sent through Blackberry phones cannot be intercepted lawfully , it is not clear how other operators like Reliance, Airtel and Vodafone are operating their services.

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