Govt seeks curb on BlackBerry services

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The government has asked telecoms firms not to provide certain services of Research In Motion's BlackBerry until monitoring systems are in place, the minister of state for telecoms said on Thursday.

Security agencies have raised concerns BlackBerry usage posed a risk as emails sent using it could not be traced or intercepted.

The government is in talks with RIM and the four telecoms operators which provide the services in India.

"Instructions have been issued to all mobile service providers, inter alia, asking them not to connect or provide/run certain BlackBerry services unless the required monitoring systems are in place," Jyotiraditya Scindia told parliament in a written reply.

"We will abide by whatever the government requires. We have no issue," Cellular Operators Association of India director general TV Ramachandran said. He declined to say if services would be disrupted on account of the government's directive.

On Wednesday, the chief executive of leading provider Airtel, Manoj Kohli, told reporters the issue was one between the government and RIM.

Scindia's remarks were identical to those made on Tuesday by home minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, who had also said the government was not restricting the use of BlackBerry services in India.

BlackBerry services are offered in India by top operator Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Plc- controlled Vodafone Essar, and BPL Mobile.

BlackBerry's worldwide user base had reached 14 million at the end of March, from 12 million in December, a RIM spokesman said. The firm did not give India-specific numbers, but an analyst has said there are more than half a million BlackBerry users in the country.