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Journalism of Courage
The United Arab Emirates on Friday backed off a threat to cut key BlackBerry services,just days before a ban was set to take effect that could have harmed the country’s business-friendly reputation. The last-minute decision ended more than two months of brinksmanship with the Canadian company that makes the smart phones,a tool popular both with businesspeople and gadget-loving consumers in this Gulf federation. The ban on e-mail,messaging and Web services which the government threatened to impose over security concerns was due to take effect Monday.
Half a million local users and thousands of BlackBerry-toting business travelers would have been affected. Dubai’s airport,the region’s busiest,handles about 100,000 passengers daily. Its going to come as quite a relief, said BlackBerry user Matthew Reed,a Dubai-based analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media,a research firm. It was not at all clear what would happen until right up to the end.
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. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority provided few details,but said no suspension of service will occur Monday as previously planned,according to a statement carried by state news agency WAM.
