BES for Small Business in UAE will be restricted

UAE telecom regulator setup a rule to Small Business if subscribed to the most secured BlackBerry services will terminated by end of this month according to email sent by Etisalat to customers. Businesses only more than 20 subscribed service are tend to continue with the secured service.

BES accounts allow BlackBerry handsets to connect with private servers hosted by individual corporations. They include highly secure e-mail and other services.

The businesses less than 20 corporate subscriptions will be entitled to use BIS which does not rely on private network unless using WiFi with VPN access.

“Enterprise [Server] services are to be made available to qualifying organisations only and not to private individuals,” the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said.

“Qualifying organisations must have a valid UAE trade licence and a minimum of 20 or more Enterprise accounts under the company ownership.”

The companies might end up subscribing dummy accounts or just let it off from BlackBerry®.

David Mackenzie, the managing director of the recruitment consultancy Mackenzie Jones, said the new TRA guidelines would be disruptive to business. “We physically couldn’t do it,” he said. “It would cost Dh3,780 [US$1,029) a month just in BlackBerry fees. That’s Dh45,000 a year, compared to Dh6,800 now. “We’re now seriously looking at the iPhone as a replacement.”