Research In Motion Maintains It Can't Provide India Agencies Access To Corporate Emails

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) Wednesday reiterated that it can't access, or provide access to, emails sent through its BlackBerry corporate computer networks, following local media reports that the Canadian company has set up servers in India so that local security agencies can directly monitor the service.

India fears that terrorists may use encrypted communication services such as those offered by Research In Motion and has long been demanding that providers of such services allow monitoring by security agencies. The country has also sought access to services of Skype, Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc.

Local media, citing various unnamed sources, have been reporting in the past few weeks that Research In Motion had set-up servers in the western Indian city of Mumbai to allow security agencies to directly intercept messages sent via its network.

In a customer update Wednesday, the BlackBerry maker maintained that intercepting corporate emails is impossible as there is no technology available to allow monitoring of the service.

The company had offered systems to monitor Internet browsing and messenger services used on its smart phones in January last year.

India is an important market for Research In Motion as the country's fast-growing mobile sector offers major potential for further expansion.

The South Asian nation's smart-phone market is expected to grow to about 40 million users by the end of 2015 from about 10 million in 2011, according to a forecast by consultancy company Informa Telecoms & Media.

-By R.Jai Krishna, Dow Jones Newswires, +91.11.4356.3333; krishna.jai@dowjones.com