BlackBerry Faces India Ban

March 14, 2008 | by Christopher Nickson

Unless BlackBerry maker RIM gives the Indian government access to its algorithms it could face a ban in the country from the end of March.

The Indian government wants to be able to decrypt messages sent in the country on BlackBerry mobile devices. It really wants to make sure it can. To that end, according to Reuters reporting on a story in the Business Standard, the government has told RIM, the company that makes BlackBerrys, to hand over its algorithms or find its service banned from the end of this month.
 
Talks have been going on, and another meeting is scheduled today between Indian mobile operators that offer BlackBerry service, RIM, the Indian department of telecommunications and security services.
 
TV Ramachandran, director general of the Cellular Operators' Association of India, told Reuters,
"We have met [the government] more than once and we are trying to meet them again. The government wants some security concerns to be addressed, and we are [aiming] for an effective dialogue with the security agencies and the department of telecommunications."
RIM had no real comment. The Business Standard claimed that the BlackBerry has around 400,000 Indian customers, with services offered through Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and BPL Mobile.

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