BlackBerry exits Pakistan to avoid e-mail monitoring by state
1 min read 30 Nov 2015, 02:23 PM ISTBlackBerry says it's shutting its Pakistan operations to avoid allowing authorities to monitor its main business enterprise server and e-mail messages
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Karachi: BlackBerry Ltd said it’s shutting its Pakistan operations to avoid allowing authorities in the nation to monitor its main business enterprise server (BES) and e-mail messages.
The Pakistan telecommunication authority notified the country’s mobile phone operators in July that BlackBerry’s BES servers would no longer be allowed to operate for security reasons, Marty Beard, chief operating officer at BlackBerry, said in a blog post on Monday. “The truth is that the Pakistani government wanted the ability to monitor all BES traffic."
Pakistan telecommunication authority spokesman Khurram Mehran didn’t answer a call to his mobile phone.
Since taking over in 2013, BlackBerry chief executive officer (CEO) John Chen has been working on shifting focus to higher-margin software sales as handset sales remain challenged. There are as many as 5,000 BES customers in Pakistan, the Dawn newspaper reported in July. The company will stop operations in Pakistan on Monday. Bloomberg
