The United Arab Emirates has done an about face, regarding its threat to stop key BlackBerry services and now says it won't go ahead with the plan (see news).
It was set to enforce the ban on Monday, October 11, 2010.
The state news agency WAM quoted the Gulf state's telecommunication regulator saying that "all BlackBerry services ... will continue to operate as normal" beyond the announced cutoff date. Whether the reprieve for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is a permanent one is still unsure.
If the Emirati authorities did shut off BlackBerry messaging, e-mail and web browsing services because of their security concerns, it would have affected 500,000 local users and anyone using the smart phones in the UAE.
Margie T Logarta