RIM secures India deal over BlackBerry data

 

Gallery

By Reuters

Posted on 31 Aug 2010 at 08:59

Research In Motion is to give India access to secure BlackBerry data, according to a government source, leading New Delhi to hold off on a decision on whether to shut down the smartphone services in the country.

Concerned about militants using the BlackBerry or Internet to plan attacks, India is also pushing RIM, Google and Skype to set up local servers to allow full monitoring of their services.

Shares of RIM rose after the Indian Interior Ministry said the company had offered several ways to allow authorities to monitor BlackBerry communications. The government said it would check their feasibility over the next 60 days.

"They have given some access, which we will operationalise from September 1," said the government source. "They will have to provide full access to all communications that go through India. They will have to set up a server in India."

New Delhi had threatened to shut down BlackBerry email services unless RIM provided a workable way for the government to monitor the data. India has said it wants the means to fully track and read BlackBerry communications.

Indian officials have also expressed concerns over security threats from Internet-based messaging and other services from providers such as Google and Skype.

The Indian government had set an end of August deadline for RIM to come up with a method to allow email monitoring and avoid a shutdown in the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.

A RIM spokesman based in India said the company had no immediate comment, while a spokeswoman at Google said the company was unable to comment as it had received no communication from the government.