Pakistan plans to shut down BlackBerry services

Baku. 27 July. REPORT.AZ/ Pakistani authorities are planning to shut down BlackBerry's secure messaging services in the country towards the end of the year, citing national security reasons, Report informs citing foreign media.

A leaked memo dated July 22 from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), seen by ZDNet but its authenticity can't be immediately verified, purports to show minutes from a meeting a week prior, calling on three of the largest major cell phone providers to shut down BlackBerry's encrypted messaging service (BES).

"Due to serious concerns by the security agency, Mobilink, Ufone, and Telenor Pakistan are requested to offer 90 days notice as per the existing provisions to their BES customers for closing their BES connections, and ensure that all BES connections of their customers must be closed by or before November 30 without fail," the official memo reads.

The named cell providers were asked to submit compliance reports due at the end of the month.