News

BlackBerry ban in Saudi Arabia reversed

11 Aug 2010

The ban on BlackBerry messenger services in Saudi Arabia has been reversed due to an agreement reached between the government and Canadian handset maker, Research in Motion (RIM).

As reported earlier (see news), the two parties were in talks that has since managed to produce a deal allowing authorities to monitor the encrypted data transmitted.

“In light of the positive developments in completing part of the regulatory requirements from the service providers, the regulatory authority has decided to allow the continuation of the BlackBerry messenger services”, stated the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).

The agency had previously ordered the three mobile operators in the country – Saudi Telecommunications, Mobily and Zain KSA – to block the messenger service on August 6, 2010 or pay a US$1.3 million fine.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) still stands by its threat to curtail BlackBerry services in October unless a similar arrangement is reached. (click here).

India, which has also expressed security concerns regarding BlackBerry encrypted transmissions, may curtail BlackBerry messenger and email services if a solution is not reached during a meeting between officials and RIM tomorrow. The government is hoping to set a deadline for RIM to share encryption details.

Alisha Haridasani


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