Zimbabwe army says cellphones danger to security

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's military has said the country's mobile phone operators are threatening national security by using independent connections to the outside world, official media reported on Tuesday.

"The mobile service providers have their own international gateway system, and from a security point of view, this is dangerous to the state because we need to monitor traffic coming in and outside, but at the moment we can not," the Zimbabwe Defense Forces director for communications, Colonel Livingstone Chineka, was quoted by the Herald newspaper as saying.

Chineka said the three mobile phone firms should route international calls through the state-owned fixed line operator TelOne, and not use their own gateways, in order to make it easier to monitor international traffic.

There was no immediate comment from the three operators.

A Zimbabwe court this month suspended a government statute forcing mobile operators to route international calls through TelOne after a challenge by the country's two private firms, Econet Wireless ECO.ZI and Telecel Zimbabwe.

The two companies had argued that re-routing calls through TelOne was meant to subsidize the loss-making state company. Net*One, the third mobile operator, is government-owned.

Zimbabwe early this year unveiled a proposed law that would give it authority to monitor phones and mail -- both conventional and Internet -- to protect national security and fight crime.

Rights groups say the "Interception of Communication Bill" is part of a crackdown which has included tough policing and political intimidation to stifle criticism of an economic crisis many blame on President Robert Mugabe's policies.

Chineka, who was giving evidence on the bill, said security forces would give their input before the proposed law is passed by parliament, adding that mobile operators should be given at least a month to be connected to TelOne's gateway.