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29 March 2024

BlackBerry may not be banned in UAE after all

BlackBerry service continuing without interruption appears to have risen substantially following the announcement by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. (AFP)

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By Staff

The possibility of the BlackBerry service continuing without interruption appears to have risen substantially following the announcement by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, that it is allowing the Blackberry Messenger service to continue operating in the kingdom.

Following a protest by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the UAE, Saudi Arabia too had announced that it would ban some BlackBerry services, such as Messenger, unless the manufacturer, Canada-based Research in Motion (RIM), agreed to share network information.

Governments across the world such as the US and United Kingdom have already access to data that is deemed necessary to maintain public security. India has been demanding access to the information and is said to be on the verge of reaching a deal with RIM.

The messaging information on BlackBerry is encrypted and routed through RIM servers bypassing domestic telecommunications monitors.

The UAE has been negotiating with RIM for the past three years without reaching an agreement.

It now has threatened to stop the service from October 11, if BlackBerry does not share the information.

Saudi Arabia had similar concerns and RIM provided it with a "fix" that was tested by three operators in the kingdom.

"This gives us hope for a successful resolution of the issue in the UAE following the amicable settlement in Saudi Arabia," said a telecom analyst.

"The chances that the BlackBerry services will be allowed to continue unhampered in the UAE beyond October 11, have improved significantly," he added.

Users too were optimistic about the continuation of BlackBerry services.

"I am almost certain that we shall not see an interruption. The same fix that was given to Saudi Arabia will now be probably offered to the UAE and I'm sure we shall continue to enjoy the benefits of online chats and messaging as we do now," said Rajiv Singh, a BlackBerry user.