The Ministry of Home Affairs have asked DOT to ensure that all telecom services by the telecom companies are made accessible to the Government on security concerns.

The issue first started with Blackberry services which is provided by the Research in Motion (RIM), a company based in Canada. Despite continuous directions, RIM had not given the Government of India access to Enterprise Server (BES), although after much efforts it gave access in the case of Blackberry Messenger Services (BMS) and Blackberry Internet Services (BIS). The government gave many warnings and ultimate dates, but the company did not implement the directions.

It is in this context that Ministry of Home Affairs have now asked the DOT to issue notices to all telecom companies to provide access to government for all telecom services by March 2001.

Even if this last date is not complied with by the telecom companies, their licenses should be cancelled and huge penalty imposed on them. But it is doubtful, because the Government would not like to antagonise the big business and MNCs;