DUBAI // Twinkling red lights were flashing across the UAE this morning, as the BlackBerry service creaked into action after three days of disruption.
The trademark red lights, alerting smartphone users to new messages, had been off for days as a fault in a UK data centre saw email, messaging and internet service fail.
Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry, said email and messaging is now working across Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa.
"Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages," said Robin Bienfait, chief information officer at RIM, in a statement sent to The National. "Support teams are working to minimise the impact on our customers, BBM traffic is online and traffic is passing successfully."
However, some users reported ongoing delays in receiving some messages, while RIM reported problems with internet services.
The UAE telecoms operator du advised users to restart their BlackBerry to restore services.
"If you are still experiencing problems with your Blackberry, please try restarting it ... some devices may need to be powered off/on," it said via Twitter.
RIM apologised for the disruption.
"You've depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we're letting you down. We are taking this very seriously and have people around the world working around the clock to address this situation," said Ms Bienfait.
bflanagan@thenational.ae
