Vodafone tells users about possible BlackBerry disruption

A leading mobile phone operator Vodafone on Friday cautioned its subscribers of a disruption of email and messenger services after August 31 in the face of a government deadline to ban BlackBerry's encrypted services if security agencies are not given access.

The caution came within hours of the government saying that a solution to monitoring of BlackBerry services to address its security concerns remained elusive.

Vodafone at the same time said it would try to provide some solution to its subscribers.

Acting on the direction from Telecom Ministry a week ago, the company informed the subscribers that the smartphone's core enterprise mail services may be shut down after August 31, Vodafone sources said.

The sources said the company was trying to work out a solution and that its subscribers will be kept posted about updates.

A Bharti Airtel spokesperson when contacted said the company has not given any sort of advice to its subscribers in the wake of uncertainty in BlackBerry's core services.