UAE Blackberry service suspended in October

United Arab Emirates (UAE) suspend the use of Blackberry services in October, citing concerns about security risks, which affect half a million users in the Persian Gulf state.

UAE said on Sunday it would stop Blackberry services on 11 October until they develop and implement an "acceptable solution."
"It is a final decision, but we are in discussions with them," said Mohammed Al Ghanem, director general of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA, for its acronym in English) UAE Reuters.

"Censorship has nothing to do with this. What we are talking about is a suspension due to failure of the UAE telecom standards," he added.
UAE contends that Blackberry data are exported abroad and managed by a "foreign business transaction." The regulator said the Blackberry data services are the only ones who operate with this method. The decision does not affect users of rival Nokia phones and Apple's iPhone.

"Today's decision is based on the fact that, in its present form, certain Blackberry services allow users to operate without any liability, raising concerns of a judicial, social and national security to the UAE," said TRA.

Officials Blackberry maker, Research In Motion, were not immediately available for comment.

The suspension of messaging services, email and Web browsing Blackberry comes after attempts dating back to 2007 to make that the provider meets the standards of the country, said the TRA.

United Arab Emirates voiced concern last week that the unit is open to misuse represent security risks, a move that some saw as a dissatisfaction with the inability to monitor the popular BlackBerry messaging service."The government considers the services offered by Blackberry, especially instant messaging as an obstacle to their goal of strengthening the censorship, surveillance and filters," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on July 26.

BlackBerry, which has about 20 percent of the smartphone market in the world, behind Nokia but ahead of Apple, has an estimated 500,000 users in the UAE.