No BlackBerry Blackout in UAE
Research in Motion’s BlackBerry service won’t be going dark in The United Arab Emirates on Monday. This morning the the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), which had threatened to ban the service over security concerns, backed off that threat after reaching some sort of deal with RIM. “[The TRA] has confirmed that Blackberry services are now compliant with the UAE’s telecommunications regulatory framework,” the agency said in a statement.
Just how, exactly, RIM (RIMM) reached compliance isn’t exactly clear. The company refuses to discuss its deal with the UAE, claiming its terms are confidential. But according to the TRA, it’s the result of “positive engagement and collaboration” with the company, so my guess is it got what it wanted: An arrangement that will give it access to BlackBerry data.
Meanwhile, RIM’s services will continue uninterrupted as it prepares for the UAE launch of the Torch and Curve model in the weeks ahead.