Bahrain, Aug 6 (GDN): TELECOM giant Batelco is taking precautionary measures to protect its customers in the event BlackBerry services are suspended in Bahrain.
However, the Telecomm-unications Regulatory Authority (TRA) yesterday reiterated that it had no intention of blocking the service.
"It has issued no directions to licensees requiring the blocking of BlackBerry or other services," said a statement from the watchdog.
It followed an announcement by the UAE on Sunday that it would halt BlackBerry services in October due to security fears.
Saudi Arabia also announced its decision to ban BlackBerry Messenger services for the same reason.
"We want to assure all our BlackBerry customers that Batelco is working on alternative offers to minimise any inconvenience should some services be suspended," said Batelco group general manager media relations Ahmed Al Janahi.
"We will fully comply with any directive to suspend some BlackBerry services, should such be issued, as this is a legal obligation on Batelco."
Mr Al Janahi said the move was a precautionary measure which was part of the company's contingency plans.
"We have received many enquires from customers which is why we are looking into other alternative offers," he said.
"This is part of our contingency plan, which we have for every event in order to ease any problems on the customers.
"At this stage, it is prudent to plan for such a scenario and proactively inform our customers to minimise any concerns they may have.
"It's not proper to speculate what the specific alternative offers will be at this stage as our marketing and sales teams are finalising such offers.
"We believe that no Batelco customer should be financially penalised if limitations are placed on some BlackBerry services - we will address all customer concerns as quickly as practicable."
The move by the UAE follows a warning from Bahrain in April against using BlackBerry Messenger software to distribute local news.
The UAE said it would suspend BlackBerry Messenger, e-mail and web browser services on October 11, citing security concerns about encrypted data it cannot monitor.
India and Indonesia have also raised security concerns about the service.