TATA Teleservices Ltd (TTSL), the country?s second-largest CDMA mobile operator, had little choice but to launch BlackBerry services without the government?s nod. Telecom markets are fiercely competitive. TTSL?s rivals already have the service, and it could not endlessly wait for the government to resolve matters with the Canadian technology provider, Research in Motion (RIM). Plus, TTSL has promised that any government decision will be taken into account. Since Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, BPL and Reliance already offer BlackBerry services to about 400,000 users and there?re no government rules on monitoring content for them, TTSL would be simply doing what?s being done, anyway. Indeed, its decision to go ahead and launch the service may prod DoT to finally frame a policy. DoT has had numerous meetings with RIM but no solution to offer. The problem is a case study in business versus government goals.
Via DoT, government spooks want BlackBerry communications to be as easy to monitor as all other forms. When a plain mobile phone ?talks? to a BlackBerry phone, the content can be read because all mobile networks are open to security agencies. But when BlackBerries talk to each other, India?s spies are in a bind because RIM?s servers are located outside India. RIM has argued that a service base of 400,000 is too small to justify the expense of setting up an India server. Is that a stalemate? Not necessarily. RIM has suggested that software that helps monitor BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry content can be used by India. The US, Russia and Australia use this. The US has about 12 million BlackBerry users while Australia has about 2.5 million. That?s 14.5 million of the 18 million BlackBerry users worldwide. The rest are distributed in 128 countries. So, the largest customer bases use the monitoring software. When DoT points out that under FDI guidelines, all operators providing services in the country have to provide remote access to the government, it shouldn?t just insist on the clauses and subclauses, but think creatively. What?s the aim? That BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry content be open to spooks. If there?s a technically flawless solution, is that to be rejected? Also, there?s GPRS technology and many others. Will the spooks worry about every technological advancement?