After three days of torture, BlackBerry services are finally restored

New Delhi: After three days of disruption, BlackBerry services offering e-mail, messenger and other online services were restored, Canada-based Research in Motion said. “Email systems are operating and we are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. Support teams are working to minimise the impact on our customers… We are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can,” Research In Motion (RIM), maker of BlackBerry, Chief Information Officer Robin Bienfait said. Since Monday, scores of BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA), Canada, Latin America and US were facing problems in accessing the e-mail, messenger and other online services on their smartphones caused by a core switch failure. [caption id=“attachment_106736” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“RIM has about a million subscribers of BlackBerry services in India. Reuters”]  [/caption] RIM has about a million subscribers of BlackBerry services in India. However, there was no clarity among the operators on the issue of offering any rebate on the tariff packages during the last three days as the service remained disrupted. “I want to first apologise for the service interruptions and delays many of you have been experiencing this week… We are doing everything in our power to restore regular service everywhere and to restore your trust in us,” Bienfait said in his message posted on the company’s website. For EMEIA region the company said, BBM  traffic is online and traffic is passing successfully. Browsing is temporarily unavailable as the support teams monitor service stability and continue to assess when this service can be safely brought online. For Canada and Latin America, “BBM and browsing services are online and traffic is passing successfully (except for three carrier networks in Latin America that are serviced by the EMEIA infrastructure). Browsing is temporarily unavailable for those three carrier networks)” Further, for the US, “Support teams are investigating reports of BBM delays.” Till yesterday, Indian customers were receiving alert messages from the respective operators saying, “We are aware that you are still experiencing intermittent issues while using BlackBerry services. Blackberry service provider, RIM continues to work on the same and services are likely to be restored soon. We thank you for your patience.” PTI