Decisions by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudia Arabia to cut or suspend services on the Blackberry smartphone continued to elicit shock by users in those countries.

The UAE, which released plans recently to suspend Blackberry instant messeges, email and web browsing, confirmed through its Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) that their decision is final. The suspensions will start October 11. The TRA has expressed concerns about its inability to monitor communications on the Blackberry and its impact on national security.

According to WAM, official news agency of the UAE, Mohammed al-Ghanem, director-general of the TRA, said that "we remain open to discussions in order that an acceptable, regulatory-compliant solution might be developed and applied."

A similar decision by Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) will force the three mobile phone providers in the country to ban services from Blackberry. According to the CITC, services provided by Blackberry do not conform to regulations. Companies that do not comply will be liable for a US$1.3 million fine.

Saudi Arabia's ban depends partially upon Blackberry producer Research in Motion (RIM) providing a local server for Saudi Arabia and meeting other unspecified "regulatory demands," according to the CITC.

Mobile providers in the UAE have offered alternatives for current Blackberry subscribers, including a new contract and different brand of smartphone.

Security officials in both countries take issue with the difficulty of accessing and monitoring data and emails stored on Canadian servers.

RIM founder and co-chief executive Make Lazaridis said in an interview with the New York Times that he did not want to endanger customer relations by making data available for government monitoring.

Lazaridis said, "If you were to ban strong encryption, you would shut down corporations, business, commerce, banking and the internet."

India has also asked the company for national security access to encrypted communications over Blackberry phones.