Indonesia has threatened to cut data services used by millions of BlackBerry

Indonesia has threatened to cut data services used by millions of BlackBerry customers, the industry body said Saturday, in an ongoing spat over infrastructure and government access to information.

The industry regulator said it would block internet services to the smartphones in the biggest market for Research In Motion (RIM) — which makes the BlackBerry — outside North America if RIM did not comply with its demands.

Canada-based RIM had agreed in January to fulfil four requests made by the communications and information technology ministry.

The requests included setting up an aggregator that would effectively reduce costs for local service providers, but authorities claimed Saturday RIM had rolled back on that commitment.

The government also requested that RIM set up customer care centers, block pornography from its service, and assist the government in accessing encrypted data on users’ phones.

RIM said, however, that it has addressed all the requests and that it is looking at new multimillion-dollar investments in Indonesia.

Indonesia is RIM’s biggest market outside North America, with shipments of BlackBerry smartphones expected to surpass nine million units by the year end.

The government’s threats come just two weeks after a BlackBerry promotional event turned disastrous.

Source AFP