The United Arab Emirates will stop individuals and small businesses accessing the most private data services offered by BlackBerry, a newspaper said, but email and web access will not be disrupted, said the government.
Only businesses with 20 or more subscriptions will be allowed to use high security accounts on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which allows for services such as highly secure corporate email, the National newspaper reported on Saturday.
The move comes months after the UAE dropped a threat to suspend BlackBerry services after resolving a dispute over access. It also coincides with efforts by Arab states to stem rolling pro-democracy revolts, largely organised on social media, that have hit all but two Gulf states, the UAE and Qatar. Citing a ruling by the UAE's telecoms regulator, The National said that small businesses would still be able to use the BlackBerry Internet Service, which does not rely on private servers, as well as encrypted messaging.