UAE to continue BlackBerry services, suspends ban

UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has announced that the BlackBerry services in the country, which was due to be suspended on October 11, will continue as normal.

In a statement released on Friday, TRA said: "All Blackberry services in the UAE will continue to operate as normal and no suspension of service will occur on October 11."

The reprieve comes after a TRA decision in August to suspend certain BlackBerry services, citing security reasons.

UAE’s leading telecoms services provider Etisalat confirmed the lifting of the ban by sending out sms to its BlackBerry subscribers.

"As per TRA’s notification of uninterrupted BlackBerry services in the UAE, Etisalat is pleased to confirm that all BlackBerry services will continue to operate as normal,” it said.

Meanwhile, TRA also acknowledged "the positive engagement and collaboration of Research In Motion" (RIM, the Canadian owner of BlackBerry)" in reaching this regulatory compliant outcome".

After the reprieve in UAE, Blackberry Services faces threat of a ban in India, if it it fails to come out with a solution to allow security agencies lawful access to encrypted data in BlackBerry's popular messenger and enterprise-mail services.

On August 31, the Indian government allowed it two months time to comply with its directive and address its security concerns.

However, BlackBerry makers in a letter to Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar early this month refused to provide an intercepting technology for its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), saying it had provided options to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) within India's existing techno-legal framework.

While cautioning the government that any ban of their core services will be counterproductive and futile, it suggested formation of a joint consultative forum to evolve procedures to intercept these popular services.

There are a million BlackBerry users in India.