BlackBerry gives in, to set up server in India

Home Ministry to review security issues in 60 days.

A man talks on his mobile as he walks past a hoarding of BlackBerry. The push-mail service provider has agreed to give Indian secirity agencies access to all its services. File photo

Canada-based Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of BlackBerry, on Monday provided certain proposals for lawful access to its services by India's security agencies, sources in the Home Ministry said.

The proposals would be operationalised immediately and the company would set up a server in India, the sources added.

At a high-level meeting chaired by Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, it was decided that the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) would study the feasibility of all such services being provided through the server located only in India.

The Ministry, in a release, said it would review security issues related to BlackBerry in 60 days, by which time the DoT is expected to submit its report.

The Ministry earlier imposed a deadline of August 31 on RIM and made it clear that the company would have to offer a solution to share heavily encrypted data or be ready to face a shutdown of its operations in India.