TRA forces BlackBerry services suspension in the UAE from October 11

The UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority today confirmed that BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry E-mail and BlackBerry Web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended as of October 11th 2010. The regulator explained that 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.

Both telecommunications operators – Etisalat and Du – were informed of the decision earlier today, and subsequently sent messages out to their subscribers. The notification was delivered with an instruction to ensure minimal consumer disruption in the provision of alternative services.

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 off-shore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organisation. BlackBerry data services are currently the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case.

Today’s decision is based on the fact that, in their current form, certain BlackBerry services allow users to purportedly act without any legal accountability.