The officials from India security agencies are expected to hold a meeting with Research in Motion (RIM) officials over the issue of monitoring data services on the popular BlackBerry series of smartphones.

The meeting will decide if BlackBerry services will be allowed to continue in the country as the government has set a deadline of August 31 for the company to make available tools to allow access for the security agencies to start monitoring its data services.

The Indian authorities have toughened their stand and have asked RIM to install a server in the country or face ban on its services. RIM wants to ensure confidentiality and secrecy for its customers with the high level of encryption applied while the authorities want to be able to monitor the data for potential security threats.

The confidentiality mechanism scrambles the emails when sent and then unscrambles them when it reaches its destinations. The security agencies were concerned over the BlackBerry’s Enterprise and Messenger services which can be used by potentials threats to the country.

RIM has given security agencies an existing tool that allows them to monitor text on encrypted BlackBerry messenger and the government appears to have cleared other services such as the BlackBerry messenger, voice calls and short-messaging services. The corporate e-mail service is not cleared and the government is demanding tools to gain access for monitoring them.

RIM has over a million customers in the country and had promised to resolve issues before the deadline to continue its service offering in the country. India is concerned that these services can be used unlawful activities. Similar security concerns have also being raised in other countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.