India Sees No Security Threat from BlackBerry

By C.J. Kuncheria

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s telecoms ministry does not see anysecurity risk from Research In Motion’s popular BlackBerry e-mailservice and has no plans to shut the service, a top government officialsaid on Wednesday.

Indian security agencies have said the BlackBerry e-mail devicecould be used by militants to send e-mails that could not be traced orintercepted, and the government wanted RIM to install servers in Indiato help monitor traffic.

"There is no threat from BlackBerry services," Telecoms SecretarySiddhartha Behura told reporters at an industry summit, addingoperators did not need the ministry’s approval to offer such services.

"Anybody can start services, that is between the operators and RIM to decide as to start or not," Behura said.

In March, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd said its applicationto launch BlackBerry services was rejected by the government because ofthe security worries. Telecoms operators, RIM and the government havesince been in talks to resolve the issue.

When asked if the government had any plan to stop the services in the country, Behura said: "Not to my knowledge."

"It’s just … going to mean business as usual," said Nick Agostino,an analyst at Research Capital in Toronto. "If anything, it justconfirms that the Indian market is now free and open for them and thatone hurdle has been removed."

For RIM, India "is going to be a nice opportunity, but it’s a long-term opportunity," he said.

RIM’s development of a significant footprint in India will alsolikely trail behind the Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s progress inChina, he added.

The company’s volatile shares rose C$3.99 to 123.68 on the TorontoStock Exchange on Wednesday following Tuesday’s Canada Day holiday. Onthe Nasdaq, they fell $1.50 to $121.77.

A spokesman for RIM in India could not immediately offer a response,but Indian mobile operators welcomed the secretary’s comments.

"We heartily welcome this statement. It is in line with the realfacts," said T.V. Ramachandran, director general of industry bodyCellular Operators Association of India.

Canada-based RIM has 114,000 BlackBerry subscribers in India, thejunior telecoms minister had said in May. The company does not releasecountry-specific subscribers numbers.

India’s three leading mobile firms, Bharti Airtel Ltd, RelianceCommunications Ltd and Vodafone-controlled Vodafone Essar Ltd, andsmaller firm BPL Mobile provide the BlackBerry service in India.

Other firms such as Tata Teleservices and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited plan to offer the service to customers.

(Additional reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski in Toronto; Editing by Peter Galloway)