Research in Motion’s (RIM) popular BlackBerry services is set to be banned from October 11 by Gulf country, UAE. There are about half a million Blackberry subscribers in the UAE.

The UAE authorities have warned RIM that the services will be banned unless the company comes up with an acceptable solution.

"It's a final decision but we are continuing discussions with them," Mohammed Al Ghanem, director general of the UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) told Reuters. "Censorship has got nothing to do with this. What we are talking about is suspension due to the lack of compliance with UAE telecommunications regulations."

The UAE objects to BlackBerry data being exported offshore and managed by a "foreign, commercial operation", reports Reuters.

Incidentally just last week Indian authorities too objected to the continuation of BlackBerry services in the country in wake of lack of mechanism to intercept the services. RIM has now assured the Indian government that it will incorporate necessary and required mechanisms to enable lawful interception.