Oman has no plans to block BlackBerry services, the Gulf state said on Monday, as regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia worked with the device's maker on a solution that could avert a ban of some services. Kuwait and Bahrain said earlier that the two other Gulf countries do not consider imposing ban on BlacBerry services. Oman's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement reported by state news agency ONA that offering the services was part of its “philosophy of free market in the sector.” BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Saudi mobile firms were testing three servers to send communications and data through Saudi Arabia before Canada to address Riyadh's concerns over security, a Saudi official said on Sunday. The Saudi regulator has given the three firms until Monday before it proceeds with a threat to cut the BlackBerry's Messenger function for some 700,000 users in the kingdom, delaying a ban which was meant to take effect on Friday. The Canadian manufacturer has come under scrutiny from other countries as well, including India, Lebanon and Algeria, regarding access to its encrypted network which governments want monitored to avert possible threats to national security. Kuwait has no intention of stopping BlackBerry services for the time being but is talking to the device's manufacturer about moral and security concerns, Communications Minister Mohammad Al-Busairi said. Bahrain's foreign minister said the country has no plans to follow its Gulf neighbors in banning some BlackBerry services because security fears do not outweigh the technological benefits. Bahrain's Sheik Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said the handheld devices raise legitimate concerns, but that his nation has decided that banning some of the phones' features is “not a way of dealing with it.” “We're not saying there is no security concern,” Sheik Khaled said in an interview. But, he added: “There are many other ways for the criminals or terrorists to communicate, so we decided we might as well live with it.” Sheik Khaled said Bahrain fully respected the decisions taken by other Gulf states regarding the devices, and declined to comment on the motivation behind their moves. However, he said his country does not see a need for a ban on BlackBerry messaging or other data services for now despite the security concerns. “It's not a way of dealing with it. We will really kind of lose a lot of communication freedom just for the sake of dealing with one matter,” he said. Sheik Khaled acknowledged there were “some concerns raised” but said sharing information using the devices remains legal. Authorities were aiming instead to warn users against spreading slanderous and libelous information, he said. The tech-savvy foreign minister posted a statement to his Twitter account Thursday that he said came from the country's crown prince, Sheik Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. In it, he quoted Sheik Salman offering assurances no ban on messaging was planned, saying a decision to halt the service would be “ignorant, short sighted and unenforceable.” A number of countries say they see BlackBerry devices as a security threat because encrypted information sent on them is difficult, if not impossible, for local governments to monitor when it doesn't pass through domestic servers. “Everybody will be closely monitoring the developments in Saudi Arabia to see if it could set an example and become a template for resolution in the UAE or other countries,” Simon Simonian, a telecoms analyst at Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Capital, said. Meanwhile, in Berlin, the German government said Monday ministers and senior civil servants have been told not to use iPhone and BlackBerry mobile devices as the interior minister warned a “dramatic” rise in cyber attacks. An interior ministry spokesman told reporters they had been told to use instead Simko devices offered by Deutsche Telekom because of “urgent” advice from the federal IT security agency, the BSI. BlackBerry smartphones offer a high level of protection for data and emails, but Berlin is reportedly uneasy that all data pass though two RIM centers in Britain and Canada.
