Deal reached on BlackBerry services: S Arabia

Saudi Arabia and the makers of the BlackBerry smartphone have reached a deal on accessing userss data that will avert a ban on the phones messenger service, a Saudi official said Saturday.The agreement, involving placing a BlackBerry server inside Saudi Arabia, would allow the government to monitor users' messages, the official said.The deal could have wide-ranging implications for several other countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, which have expressed similar concerns over how BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd., handles data.The Saudi regulatory official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details of the deal with the media, said tests were now under way to determine how to install a BlackBerry server inside the country.