UAE cancels BlackBerry suspension

The UAE's Telecommunication Regulatory Authority and Research in Motion, the Canadian smart phone maker, had disagreed over the encrypted data used by the phones. The TRA had threatened to suspend BlackBerry use in the country starting Oct. 11, calling the phone a security risk, the Khaleej Times reported Saturday.

RIM has agreed to comply with UAE's rules, the newspaper said.
The confrontation ended with a TRA announcement. "All BlackBerry service in the UAE will continue to operate as normal and no suspension of service will occur," the regulator said.

"For the business, the deal was imminent," said Madhava Rao MS, chief information officer at Emke Group, a retail chain.

Analysts said sales of rival phones, such as Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Glaxy S, were helped by the controversy. BlackBerry however, is "dominant" in the market with 500,000 customers in the country.

Etisalat, the largest telecommunication carrier serving BlackBerry owners, said alternate service plans devised before the announcement would no longer he needed.

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