RIM dismisses Etisalat's claim of network disruption

RIM says all services are operating as normal.

BlackBerry officials say there are no problems with its network in the Middle East, despite a warning issued by Etisalat that users of the smartphone face disruptions.

The UAE-based mobile operator claimed today that 5 per cent of BlackBerry customers across the Middle East face problems using the service.

The operator cited an announcement by Research In Motion (RIM), which makes BlackBerry phones.

"RIM has announced that they are having problems with their blackberry service and that 5% of customers in Middle East could be affected,” Etisalat said on its official Twitter feed.

In an earlier message, Etisalat said it is “currently facing a general problem in the BB service. Our technical team is working on resolving it. We regret the inconveniences.”

A spokeswoman for RIM told The National that there are no such problems with its network in the Middle East, and denied making a statement on the matter to Etisalat.

“All services are operating as normal,” the spokeswoman said. “We didn’t make an announcement.”

Etisalat could not immediately provide any information about why it posted the tweet, or give any justification for it. The tweet has not been deleted.

Twitter users did not report any widespread problems with the BlackBerry network, although one Dubai resident today complained that the service was “intermittent and unreliable”.

BlackBerry users in the Middle East have been hit by several problems over the last year.

Last October, a technical fault at a UK-based data centre brought down email, internet and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) services across much of the globe. BlackBerry users in the Middle East were among millions of subscribers hit by last year’s blackout.