India Minister: Hope to Resolve BlackBerry Issue in Two Months

NEW DELHI -- India hopes to resolve the issue of access to Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry services within the two-month time frame provided by the government, the federal communications minister said Tuesday.

"Home Ministry has extended the time frame for RIM. We are periodically reviewing," A. Raja told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference.

The government had threatened to ban BlackBerry if the Canadian company failed to come up with tools to monitor the services by the end of August.

However, it extended the deadline for another two months from Sept. 1 after RIM provided solutions for local security agencies to monitor the company's BlackBerry corporate email service. RIM had already provided access to other services such as messenger and chat.

On Aug. 30 India said it would start using the solutions from Sept. 1, assess their feasibility and effectiveness, and review the situation in 60 days.

Separately, Mr. Raja said the Telecom Commission--a part of the Department of Telecommunications--will consider moves to offer relief to companies that received licenses to offer second-generation mobile services in early 2008, but haven't been able to roll out services within the mandatory time frame.

"In the last operator's meeting, it was highlighted bailout provisions may be done. It will be discussed in the telecom commission," Mr. Raja said.