RIM has staved off a ban on BlackBerry - at least for the next two months - as the government tests monitoring technology it has offered as a fix to their dispute over access to encrypted data.
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) will evaluate RIM’s technical solution for 60 days to determine whether it provides security agencies with enough access to BlackBerry email and messaging systems, WSJ.com reports.
Home ministry spokesman Onkar Kedia confirmed the deal late yesterday, just a few hours before BlackBerry messaging services were to be barred under an Indian government deadlineimposed three weeks ago.
Kedia said the solution involves a server located in India, WSJ said, despite RIM previously stating it never supplied servers to individual countries.
The Indian government also plans to serve Google and Skype with notices to set up local servers in India for the same purposes, Times of India reported.
Analysts said a deal between the government and RIM was inevitable given the importance of India to RIM and other smartphone vendors.
India already has an estimated 1 million BlackBerry users, according to the Economic Times. Informa Telecoms & Media predicts the number of smartphones sold in the market will hit 40 million by end 2015, up from 12 million this year.
Nokia has reportedly also agreed to set up localized servers for its enterprise email by November, WSJ said.
RIM last week blasted India’s strict laws on communications, claiming they would stifle the country’s status as a global business market.
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