Algeria to ban use of BlackBerry

  1. Posted on Friday 6 August 2010 - 12:00
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    John Afful Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Accra, Ghana
    Algeria's Telecommunications Minister Moussa Benhamadi has disclosed government plans to view the use of BlackBerry telephones and ban the devices if it findings threaten national security. "We are looking at the issue. If we find out that it is a danger for our economy and our security, we will stop it."
    BlackBerry
    The North African country Algeria with population of 35 million joins a growing list of countries raising concerns about the BlackBerry phones that could hit users and curb revenues for the devices' Canadian maker, Research in Motion Ltd.

    According to a source close to the country’s Telecommunications Ministry, the source told Reuters, the use of the BlackBerry service is likely to suffer a ban since Algeria's government is extremely security conscious and fighting an insurgency by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda. Adding, government enforces tough restrictions on telecommunications equipment.

    "Ending the BlackBerry service in Algeria is very likely."

    RIM is the only smartphone maker that manages the message traffic sent using its equipment and it has however been revealed that the two Algerian operators offering clients BlackBerry service, the state-owned Mobilis and Djezzy, the Algerian business of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, has for months been at the centre of a dispute over the unit's ownership.

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