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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
March 17, 2008
India Not to Ban Blackberry Phones
By Raju Shanbhag TMCnet Contributing Editor
The blackberry users in India can leave a sigh of relief at least for the moment. The Indian government, which contemplated banning the blackberry devices in India for security concerns has now said that it will not be doing so. At least for the moment. The blackberry in question was that of RIM’s recently introduced phones in India.
The controversy over the security aspect of the blackberry rose when Tata Teleservices was denied permission by the home affairs ministry to launch services owing to security concerns even while other operators were offering the service. DoT, however, said out it had already informed all operators to stop Blackberry services by the end of December because of objections by home ministry. However, responding to requests, operators were given a three-month extension, which ends in March.
The major concern for security agencies in India seems to be the fact that emails made from Blackberry can neither be traced nor be recorded. But the telecom ministry has assured that there is simply no question of banning the blackberries. In fact, the telecom ministry even said that it is keen to see the blackberries continue their services in India.
Said a senior DoT official, “Most push-mail services provided by telecom operators in the country host their servers outside the country and the department would revisit the norms under which these operators are providing their services.”
But the telecom ministry is not ignoring the issues of national security either. The ministry has already communicated its concerns to the officials of RIM and will meet representatives of the four mobile phone service providers who offer BlackBerry in India. Almost all telecom players in the country offer push-mail services – including Reliance Communications (News - Alert), BPL
Mobile and Vodafone (News - Alert)-Essar – which are like the Blackberry services but with different brands. The blackberry services have about 400,000 thousand users in India.
Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.
The controversy over the security aspect of the blackberry rose when Tata Teleservices was denied permission by the home affairs ministry to launch services owing to security concerns even while other operators were offering the service. DoT, however, said out it had already informed all operators to stop Blackberry services by the end of December because of objections by home ministry. However, responding to requests, operators were given a three-month extension, which ends in March.
The major concern for security agencies in India seems to be the fact that emails made from Blackberry can neither be traced nor be recorded. But the telecom ministry has assured that there is simply no question of banning the blackberries. In fact, the telecom ministry even said that it is keen to see the blackberries continue their services in India.
Said a senior DoT official, “Most push-mail services provided by telecom operators in the country host their servers outside the country and the department would revisit the norms under which these operators are providing their services.”
But the telecom ministry is not ignoring the issues of national security either. The ministry has already communicated its concerns to the officials of RIM and will meet representatives of the four mobile phone service providers who offer BlackBerry in India. Almost all telecom players in the country offer push-mail services – including Reliance Communications (News - Alert), BPL
Mobile and Vodafone (News - Alert)-Essar – which are like the Blackberry services but with different brands. The blackberry services have about 400,000 thousand users in India. Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP
Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.
