RIM, Indian officials to meet again over BlackBerry concerns

By ZDNet India Staff, Special to ZDNet Asia
Monday, June 02, 2008 10:52 AM

The talks between officials of the Canada-based Research in Motion (RIM) and authorities here over India's security concerns on the use of BlackBerry-enabled mobile phone services remained inconclusive on Thursday, but the two sides have decided to meet again.

"We will meet again to resolve the issue with the RIM," said an official of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

According to the official, the two sides discussed the probable solutions for the impasse over the BlackBerry services in India.

The Indian government is understood to have reiterated its security concerns on the use of BlackBerry-enabled mobile phones and asked RIM to share security codes.

The RIM officials were accompanied at the meeting by representatives from the Canadian embassy here.

The communication and information technology ministry had earlier written to RIM, asking it to put up servers in India, which would help securities agencies monitor its services.

"This is to enable the security agencies to track e-mail messages and other messages as and when the need arises," said the official.

India's security agencies have pointed out that BlackBerry's e-mail device poses a risk as e-mail messages sent using it cannot be traced or intercepted.

But RIM told the government it was not possible to share the security codes with it as its servers were located in Canada.

The government, in reply, asked RIM to put its servers in India.

Communications and IT Minister A Raja recently said the Canadian firm had assured the government to come out with a solution in two months.

Telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar and BPL Mobile are offering the BlackBerry services in India to over 1,14,000 customers.

BlackBerry services, introduced in India in October 2004, came under the government's scanner last year when an application by Tata Teleservices to launch a similar service was rejected over security concerns.


WORTHWHILE?

0

0 votes
Blog

Talkback 0 comments

There are currently no comments for this post.


Tech Jobs Now!

Search for your ideal tech job:

Cost and graphics concerns delay a VDI project

Tech Management

Virtual desktops are a serious paradigm shift and Scott Lowe is taking it in a slow and measured way. In this article, he provides an update on ongoing VDI efforts at Westminster College.


Read more »



Do we need more delivery centers?

Blog thumbnail

As I wrote a while back in about "racing to subsidies", there certainly is an increased focus by governments to attract delivery centers to their region. To do that, many..... by Michael Rehkopf

Read more »

Tags

  1. 3g
  2. 3g third generation
  3. apple inc.
  4. apple iphone
  5. broadband
  6. cellular phones
  7. google inc.
  8. handset
  9. internet
  10. mobile
  11. mobile platforms / communications
  12. mobile / wireless
  13. network
  14. phone
  15. revenue
  16. smart phone
  17. smart phones
  18. software
  19. u.s.
  20. web