United Arab Emirates No Longer Banning BlackBerry Services

By Mauricio

The BlackBerry Ban was a hot issue for a few months but died down a bit. One of the first countries that tried sticking it to RIM with a ban threat was the United Arab Emirates but according to a CBS News article, the UAE has backed off:

The United Arab Emirates on Friday backed off a threat to cut key BlackBerry services, just days before a planned ban that could have harmed the country’s business-friendly reputation.

The Emirates telecommunications regulator confirmed that a deal had been reached with device maker Research in Motion Ltd. that brought the devices into compliance with local laws.

Very smart of the UAE to not ban BlackBerry services but I’m wondering what the “deal” was and the amount of compromise involved. RIM didn’t comment on the issue saying they “cannot discuss the details of confidential regulatory matters” but an analyst at IHS Global Insight said the UAE was probably given limited access to encryption data, something I’m sure many BlackBerry users in the UAE won’t appreciate but it’s better than a complete ban. Right?

In other news, Saudi Arabia and India have also backed off their ban threat but others like New Delhi, Indonesia and Lebanon continue to raise BlackBerry concerns with New Delhi giving RIM a 60-day reprieve on August 31st.

via CBS