In a meeting on Monday(December 21, 2010) with representatives of telcos, the home ministry and security agencies, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) reportedly sought a temporary ban on all 3G data services, unless telecom operators demonstrate that these facilities could be tapped in real time. IB officials said they were unable to intercept services such as video calls and instant messaging flowing through 3G networks on a real-time basis. Last week, DoT had issued notices to Reliance Communications (RCom), Tata Teleservices and Bharti Airtel not to launch 3G mobile services as these can be traced only a few minutes after they have ended. Though RCom and Tata Teleservices, along with state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL, have already launched 3G data services, Airtel plans to begin offering them by the end of this month.
According to the Economic Times, "Operators have been given up to seven days to demonstrate that data services can be tapped in real time, failing which the services will be disallowed." IB officials may discuss internally some of the proposals suggested by telcos during Monday’s meeting, and come back within the next couple of days, the paper quoted a DoT official as saying.
Any temporary ban on 3G services is likely to impact high-speed Internet, download of music and video clips, chat and Internet telephony calls.
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