India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is deliberating over opening up Internet telephony to mobile operators, thereby allowing consumers to make unrestricted calls online. Stating that it was discussed in July 13 meeting with Indian telecom services officers, department officials said this may be included in the New Telecom Policy which is expected to be finalised by November this year. A highly ranked DoT official said: We have received representations from the industry and from within the DoT to open up Net telephony....

India is currently amid a dangerous coronavirus wave with more than 300,000 cases registered every 24 hours for the past several days. Social media timelines are filled with requests for oxygen, hospital beds, and medicines. In the national capital, New Delhi, hospitals have had toknockon the door of judicial courts to request government assistancein procuring supplies of oxygen.Adults over the age of 18 will be able to get their first shot of vaccine only starting next month....

Reports thatResearch In Motion, manufacturer of the popular BlackBerry smartphones, had already solved its problems with India turn out to be premature, according to a report from theAsia Sentinel. Furthermore, it is speculated to be a ploy for the government to gain access to proprietary technologies to surveil and monitor the Internet. We all thought that RIM’s carrier partners hadreportedly metthe standard required by the Indian government for all consumer and enterprise messaging services last year, but the latest news indicates that their fate is still in jeopardy....

With no solution emerging from itsrecent tusslewith Research in Motion (RIM) over its BlackBerry services, the Indian government is now planning to approach its Canadian counterpart for a special agreement to gain full access to BlackBerry services. Inspired by a similar deal between the US and Canada where RIM is providing all intercepting facilities to the US under a “government-to-government” agreement, this will force RIM to provide the same facilities, including corporate email, to the Indian security agencies....

Blackberry maker RIM and the Indian Government share a special relationship. Every few months or so they both play the game, “I ban you, I ban you not”. The tussle is all about gaining access to the encryption keys that RIM holds so dearly. The Indian Government is not the only one who wants access to those keys, Governments in the Middle East are on the same quest too. They don’t want terrorists to use a service that cannot be intercepted, lawfully or otherwise....