Blackberry manufacturer to follow regulations

BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) has promised to comply with regulations in its operations in Indonesia by filtering access to pornographic websites on its device`s browser, setting up a server and providing after sales services. 

"They met (RIM executives) us at the ministry office before we have a working meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR). They promised to follow regulations in force in Indonesia," Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring said on Monday.

The Indonesian government has since last year repeatedly called on the Canadian firm to set up in Indonesia a server which would enable it to monitor communications by suspected criminals via their BlackBerry smart phones.

Based on Law No. 11 / 2008 on Information and Electronics Transactions, each telecommunication operator in Indonesia is required to set up a data center.

In the meeting on Monday, RIM agreed to meet the requirements set by the government that they should establish a server and after sales services in Indonesia.

"RIM agreed to build a network aggregator for Southeast Asian region in Indonesia. Indonesia is their biggest market base in Southeast Asia and we would like them to set it up here so that it will reduce the BlackBerry tariff here," the minister said.

He said that during the meeting the RIM leaders informed they had opened 40 counters in Indonesia to meet the need for after sales services. "This is their claim and we still need to check it in the field," Tifatul said.

On the occasion, the minister said that so far RIM had not yet paid taxes for its operations in Indonesia.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said he would probe allegations that RIM did not pay tax to the Indonesian government. "To see if there are indeed royalty components or other tax obligations that have not been paid, I will check. If they have indeed not paid we will ask for its collection," he said after a coordinating meeting at his office.

The minister however said he had not received yet official reports about it and all possibilities for imposing a fine or a penalty which may be done for the Blackberry producer are still being studied.

"I have not received the report. If there are indeed (unpaid taxes) they will be collected including the fines and penalties," he said. The ministry of communications and information estimates the net revenue of Research in Motion in Indonesia reaches Rp2.268 trillion a year.

"With collection reaching an average of US$7 per person per month RIM is able to book a net income of Rp189 billion a month or Rp2.268 trillion a year," the ministry`s expert staff for communications and mass media, Henry Subiakto, said.

As regard to porn contents, Minister Tifatul said that the Indonesian government gave them a five day deadline until January 21, 2011. 

"If RIM does not comply with our law, we will block Blackberry`s internet browsing facility," spokesperson to the ministry Gatot S Dewa Broto said meanwhile. Gatot argued the ultimatum was made due to consideration that the browsing facility in Blackberry had not yet adopt an anti-porn content filtering system.

He said the ministry had since August 10, 2010, started to filter all porn sites in 180 Internet Service Provider operating in Indonesia. "We cannot let Blackberry operating in Indonesia without proper filtering system. We are only implementing regulation in this country and does not rely on other interest," Gatot said.

The spokesman added if Blackberry`s browsing facility was blocked, the government would offer a substitution for the gadget`s user to access the internet by activating the GPRS handset system. However, the user must pay an extra charge to access it.

According to telecommunication and information expert Roy Suryo, the number of BlackBerry users in Indonesia is about 1.3 million. But the ministry of communications and information noted that there are around three million people in Indonesia that subscribe to RIM, including two million official subscribers and one million "black-market" subscribers.

The big number of subscribers has prompted the government to urge RIM to have data center in Indonesia so that it could monitor communications by suspected criminals.

Unlike rivals Nokia, Samsung and Apple`s iPhone, RIM controls its own networks which handle encrypted messages through centers in Canada and the UK. This has made the BlackBerry and its messenger application highly popular as a secure way to communicate, but has also worried governments, who are not able to tap into the network.

Therefore, in August Last year, the Indonesian government urged RIM to set up a data center/server in Indonesia.

Indonesia made the request amid reports that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had recently blocked BlackBerry e-mail, Internet and messaging services. 

"If RIM does not set up a data center in Indonesia it would be difficult for law enforcement officers to track crime-related communications through BlackBerry hand pones," Minister Tifatul Sembiring said in Magelang, Central Java recently

Source: ANTARA