BLACKBERRY users across Europe, the Middle East and
Africa were hit with service disruptions to their smartphones for a
second day after an unexplained glitch cut off internet and messaging
services for large numbers of users around the world.
Research in Motion (RIM), which makes BlackBerry
devices, said on Tuesday morning that services were operating normally and
the issue responsible for delays in subscriber services a day earlier
had been resolved. But BlackBerry's popular messaging service was not
fully operational in Europe, with users reporting issues sending and
receiving messages.
In Britain, Vodafone UK told customers via Twitter that
service was not fully restored. T-Mobile UK blamed "a European-wide
outage on the BlackBerry network" which it said was affecting all mobile
operators.
Etisalat, in the United Arab Emirates, apologised for
"the further interruption" to Blackberry services, "once again due to
RIM problems".
Kenya's Safaricom said on Twitter that its
BlackBerry customers were experiencing a "technical fault" and
apologised for any inconvenience.
Angry smartphone users also used Twitter to vent
frustration with the company and bemoan the loss of their messaging
capabilities, questioning why the company took so long to restore
services.
A spokesperson for BlackBerry said she was not immediately able to comment.