A new regulation approved in Turkey will potentially ban BlackBerry smartphones, in a repeat of the dispute between Research In Motion, or RIM, and a series of governments including India and the United Arab Emirates.
The regulation involves encrypted communication. From now on, if producers of devices that enable such communication wish to be active in Turkey, they will have to give the encryption algorithm and related keys to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, or BTK, Milliyet daily reported.
"Otherwise, the use of such devices in Turkey will be banned," Milliyet said. "The encryption codes will be held by the BTK."
BlackBerry devices use an encrypted e-mail system and are preferred by businesspeople due to the secure communication they offer. Other smartphones in the market do not use such a system.
Speaking to Milliyet, BTK chief Tayfun Acarer said Canadian company RIM should hand over the related codes to BTK as soon as possible. "Otherwise, BTK will implement the law."
Due to RIM's insistence on not giving codes to any country, there is a good chance that BlackBerries could be banned in Turkey, Milliyet reported. "We will not give a certain period of time to RIM, because the law is already in effect," Acarer told the newspaper.
BlackBerry devices are used by over 41 million people worldwide and around 400,000 users in Turkey. Speaking to Milliyet on condition of anonymity, a top executive of a Turkish mobile phone company said a possible ban would "have negative consequences in the business world."
"These devices have become a part of the business world," the executive said. "Leave aside medium-level executives, top bosses such as Güler Sabanci, Ali Koç and Ferit Sahenk are using them, running their businesses through BlackBerries. I cannot imagine such a ban coming into effect."