DoT reverses stand, says BlackBerry poses no security threat

03 Jul 2008

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Mumbai: The department of telecommunication (DoT) has completely reversed its earlier stand against the roll-out of BlackBerry services in the country, saying it posed no security threat and that the government has no objection to any operator offering these services.

Blackberry services came under the scanner after the ministry of home affairs and security agencies asked the vendor not to list any fresh subscribers following claims by security agencies that the BlackBerry could be used by militants to send e-mails that could not be tracked or intercepted by the agencies.

The government wanted Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) to offer source code of the BlackBerry services or install its servers in India to help monitor traffic.

''There is no threat from BlackBerry services,'' telecom secretary Siddharth Behura said, adding, ''There is no permission needed for starting value-added services. We have not given permission to anybody, we have not disallowed anybody.''

The issue had come to the surface when Tata Communications sought DoT approval for the roll-out of Blackberry services. State-run BSNL also wanted to start the service.

''There is no permission needed for starting value- added services. We have not given permission to anybody, we have not disallowed anybody," he said.    

"People are buying Blackberry. There is no threat from Blackberry services," Telecom secretary Behura said on the sidelines of a telecom summit in Ontario.    

Currently, India has over 1,15,000 BlackBerry customers between five operators, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, BPL, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular.  

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