TRA, RIM in talks on BlackBerry services

Dubai: The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) remains in talks with Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry, for compliance with UAE telecommunications regulations, failing which its services will be suspended from October 11 as previously announced, a person familiar with the developments at TRA told Gulf News Sunday.

"RIM has been given enough time to come back with solutions. We are still discussing with RIM the BlackBerry services not complying with the regulations of TRA," said the TRA source.

On August 1, TRA confirmed in a statement that BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Email and BlackBerry web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended as of October 11.

"The suspension is a result of the failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring BlackBerry services in the UAE in line with UAE telecommunications regulations," said the TRA.

"The TRA notes that BlackBerry appears to be compliant in similar regulatory environments of other countries, which makes non-compliance in the UAE both disappointing and of great concern," TRA Director General Mohammad Al Ganem was quoted in the statement as saying.

Both telecommunications operators etisalat and du were informed of the decision, TRA said.

All BlackBerry services fall within the UAE regulatory framework developed by the TRA since 2007.

However, because of BlackBerry's technical configuration, some BlackBerry services operate beyond the enforcement of these regulations. BlackBerry data is immediately exported offshore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organisation.

The UAE has an estimated 500,000 BlackBerry users.