India holds crunch BlackBerry meeting ahead of deadline

Top Indian telecom and security officials were set to meet on Monday to discuss a security standoff with the maker of BlackBerry handsets which could see the phone service banned this week.

Mr G.K. Pillai, the top bureaucrat in the home ministry, was due to hold a meeting with colleagues from the telecom ministry and security experts to make a call on India's next step.

The government warned earlier this month it would start blocking emails and instant messages sent on BlackBerry smartphones unless the company came up with a way for security agencies to decode the encrypted traffic by August 31.

India, which struggles with a host of home-grown insurgencies and threats from terror groups based in neighbouring Pakistan, is worried that if left unmonitored BlackBerry phones could be used by militants.

There were indications late last week that the deadline might be pushed back beyond Tuesday's cut-off date as BlackBerry's Canadian makers, Research in Motion (RIM), scrambled to satisfy the authorities.

"Everything is possible. If they say we have a solution and ask for time, then we will see," one unnamed official told reporters late last week.

Analysts have noted other security-conscious nations such as China and Russia appear to be satisfied over their intelligence agencies' level of access to BlackBerry communications.

For RIM, whose shares closed at a 52-week low on Friday of $45.99 in New York, striking a deal with India is crucial and would help ensure the company is not shut out of the world's fastest-growing cellular market.

India, which has 1.1 million BlackBerry users, would be the first country to curb its services. But RIM is also facing a threatened ban by the United Arab Emirates and is negotiating with Saudi Arabia on security issues.