Blackberry services now compliant with regulatory framework: UAE telecom regulator

The United Arab Emirates, one of several countries to have threatened to suspend services for the Blackberry smartphones this year, yesterday decided to not press ahead with the action that was to come into effect from Monday.

This follows an agreement with the popular messaging devices manufacturer Research In Motion.

The UAE telecom regulator said BlackBerry services were now ''compliant with the UAE's telecommunications regulatory framework,'' and that all BlackBerry services would function normally from Monday.

According to analysts it is not clear if RIM has made any concessions to address the UAE government's concerns. The UAE telecommunications authority said that RIM one of the largest smartpone makers in the world had taken a positive approach towards a compromise with the authorities.

One analyst said the development meant that RIM had either given in on the encryption data sharing issue with UAE officials or that economic considerations from the impact of losing Blackberry services had trumped the UAE authorities' security fears. 

The UAE is home to the key financial and air transport hub of Dubai, and in August it had cited security concerns as a reason for threatening a ban against BlackBerry e-mail and web-browsing services.