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The rumors are true: Saudi Arabia has become the second country inside of a week to block access to Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices on grounds of national security.
The ban goes into effect on August 6 after a "grace period" in which local wireless companies were unable to bring BlackBerry devices (and their encrypted e-mail) into compliance with kingdom rules.
Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission said that it informed local providers STC, Mobily, and Zain yesterday that they would need to terminate BlackBerry service in a few days. Zain Saudi Arabia, which is headed by His Royal Highness Prince Dr. Husam bin Saud bin Abdul Aziz, announced only two weeks ago that its profits in the kingdom were up dramatically and that business was booming.
The Saudi government laid blame for the situation on the providers and on RIM, which is famously protective of customer messages.
The encryption used by RIM was good enough to thwart the security service in nearby United Arab Emirates, which earlier this week also blocked BlackBerry service until it could get access to people's messages.
These are relatively small markets for RIM, of course, but they aren't negligible; Arab News estimates that the UAE already has 500,000 BlackBerry devices in use, with another 750,000 in Saudi Arabia.
Rumors continue to swirl that India is also putting heavy pressure on RIM, and for the same reasons, though no similar ban has yet been announced.
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