New Delhi, March 7: BlackBerry, the mobile phone-cum-virtual office without which many executives can’t survive, has caught the gimlet eye of the security establishment.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sent letters to all BlackBerry service providers in India to explain if they had a monitoring facility that allowed security agencies to intercept data transferred through the device.

The security issue popped up while the DoT was processing an application by Tata Teleservices for permission to provide BlackBerry services. The company has not yet been allowed to offer the services.

BlackBerry, made by Canadian-based Research In Motion (RIM), is a handheld device that can send and receive email, besides offering other features of a mobile phone.

The device has transformed the way many people work, giving them access to office communication from faraway places and often blurring the line dividing workstations and home. Mobile phone industry analysts put the number of BlackBerry subscribers in India at 4.5 lakh.

Indian security agencies are concerned that as BlackBerry does not have a server station in India, “lawful interception” of data might not be possible. All service providers in India are required to allow authorities access to data transmission, including SMS and email, whenever required.

However, service providers contend that as BlackBerry works on their internal servers — different service providers such as Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance offer the facility now — the individual systems can be intercepted by the home ministry.

A spokesperson for RIM said the company “supports its carrier partners in India and we will work together with them to seek further clarity”.

DoT officials clarified that no ban had been placed on the services. The service providers will meet DoT secretary Sarthak Behuria next week.

“The message travels in data packets from a BlackBerry to a mirror server which is housed at the service provider’s data centre in India. The authorities have voiced two fears: first, the mirror server in India could send the data packets to the BlackBerry main server in the US. Second, that the investigating agencies cannot unscramble the encrypted data packets,” said an industry watcher.

“Our stand remains that it (the government move) is an infringement on the privacy of subscribers,” an industry association official said.