India presses for BlackBerry access

India today began issuing letters to the countrys telecoms operators ordering them to make BlackBerry corporate e-mail and messenger services accessible to interception by security agencies or risk suspension of their licences. The move marks the first step by the government towards implementing an ultimatum from the Ministry of Home Affairs warning that India would block the services by the end of this month unless they were opened for monitoring.The issue is that the service providers have legal obligations to the government under their licences, said one industry executive.The legal obligations of Research In Motion, the Canadian company that makes the devices, were to the service providers, he said.