Zim authorities wants to access Blackberry data

Zimbabwe's telecommunications regulator wants to allow authorities access to encrypted data or e-mails sent via Research in Motion's Blackberry devices, an official said.

"In terms of the law, there should be a facility to allow for such interception as well as decryption of the encrypted messages/ e-mails," Hilda Mutseyekwa, an official with the Postal Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, said today in a written response to questions.

Two local mobile operators, Econet Wireless and Telecel, have formally applied with the regulator to offer Blackberry services.

The use of BlackBerry services in Zimbabwe remain "banned" until investigations into the legality of its use in the country have been concluded, Postal and Telecommunications  Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe has said adding discussions with service providers that intend to introduce BlackBerry services were still underway.

ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe has had clashes with regulator Potraz (Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe) after it emerged that some of its subscribers and workers were using Blackberry services without prior licensing.

Potraz noted that some Econet workers were using the service on social sites such as Facebook, Skype and Twitter and has had to intervene to stop them.

Blackberry devices and services' unique selling point, which has made them popular to business executive and corporates, is that they provide a secure form of communication, particularly through the corporate e-mail service, that is unreadable unless one possesses the encryption key.

Potraz deputy director-general Mr Alfred Marisa said "they had not regularised" the use of the Blackberry services to Econet Wireless Zimbabwe as they were still considering the service.

"Potraz has the prerogative to approve any new telecommunication service that is introduced in the country and that includes Blackberry services which must get prior approval by the authority before their commercial launch for public consumption.

"The authority is still considering Econet's request to introduce Blackberry services in the market. He said that those that were using it for "testing purposes" were breaking the law as the service is still to be approved.

"First of all, the authority never issued Econet Wireless Zimbabwe with a Blackberry testing licence, secondly we do not have such a licence in our statutes," he said.