Saudi Arabia has followed the United Arab Emirate’s (UAE) lead, and is now blocking access to Research in Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry devices, citing national security. RIM is also countering rumours claiming it was going to allow the Indian government to monitor encrypted emails.

The Saudi ban goes into effect on August 6 after a grace period in which local carriers can bring BlackBerry devices into compliance with kingdom rules. However, this is near impossible, as RIM’S technology will not permit the de-encryption of e-mail.

Local providers STC, Mobily, and Zain have been instructed to terminate service after the grace period, with the Saudi government claiming that the fault lies with the providers and with RIM, which have yet made the necessary changes to be in compliance.

It is estimated that the UAE has 500,000 BlackBerry devices in use, with another 750,000 in Saudi Arabia and 1 million in India.

RIM will not let India monitor messages

RIM has made it clear it will not allow the Indian government to monitor encrypted emails, denying local media reports it would allow Indian intelligence agencies to read BlackBerry messages to satisfy government security concerns of the government.

RIM said that it was hopeful that it could come to an agreement with India, “but there can be no compromise on security for our customers' communications."

India is worried that BlackBerry services could be used by militants to communicate. The country is battling insurgencies from Muslim-majority Kashmir, as well as Maoists.

The Economic Times has quoted an unnamed Indian security agency official as saying the country would shut down any BlackBerry services that cannot be monitored.

However, RIM has said that even it cannot read the encrypted information. Meanwhile, India has  been restricting imports from Chinese telecom manufacturers because of concerns that spyware could be embedded in the equipment. The government wants Indian carriers to take over equipment maintenance locally and to allow for inspections.