Speaking to As-Safir newspaper, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas said Friday that the ministry will negotiate with BlackBerry access to data and information that "could be needed by the State at some point."
He said there were some 60,000 subscribers in BlackBerry in Lebanon.
Nahhas, however, refuted that claims that negotiations with BlackBerry were aimed at the issue of getting data or concerns about more Israeli infiltration of the phone networks.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority chairman Imad Houbballah said yesterday that Lebanon will assess security concerns linked to the use of BlackBerry smartphones following the arrest of several telecoms employees suspected of spying for the Israeli occupation.
Houbballah said the TRA plans to begin discussions next week with Research in Motion (RIM), BlackBerry's Canada-based manufacturer.
"This is prompted by the increase of security issues that have been found with the telecommunications networks in Lebanon," Houbballah told Agence France Presse.
"This is related to the ability of law enforcement agencies to access the data as may be required by law," he added. "It's basically access to the data or the servers in the country," he said. "We need to make an arrangement with BlackBerry or come to an understanding with them that satisfies law enforcement concerns."
Lebanon is the latest country to express worries over RIM's encrypted services -- which involve data being routed through secure servers in Canada -- because of fears they could be used by militants or others for criminal activities.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia this week decided to suspend BlackBerry services on grounds that security agencies cannot monitor messages, while India is mulling a similar move. As the row spread, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United States and the UAE would soon hold talks on the Gulf business hub's halting of BlackBerry messenger, web browsing and email services.
Mustafa al-Shab, BlackBerry's representative in Lebanon, told AFP that he was confident an arrangement would be struck with Lebanese authorities.
"If Lebanon suspends BlackBerry services, the company would be affected and I doubt it wants to lose this share of the market in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Shab said.
But RIM founder and co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis has said that allowing governments to monitor messages would imperil the firm's ties with customers, including major corporations and law enforcement agencies.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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