Vodafone Group plc (LON:VOD) confirms that Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM)’s BlackBerry Internet service is having problems in several countries including Europe, Middle East, and Africa, where many users have reported that they’re unable to access data services on their devices.
“Vodafone service issues are impacting some BlackBerry customers in Europe, Middle East & Africa. We are supporting their efforts to resolve.” BlackBerry alerted users in a tweet today.
It appears that the cause of this failure in connection is a network glitch between Vodafone and Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) which has affected BlackBerry users access to emails and messenger service on their phones.
Vodafone Group plc (LON:VOD) is reportedly working with RIM to resolve the network fault as quickly as possible.
A spokesman from the British mobile communication operator said the company is working closely with Research in Motion (RIM) to restore full service as soon as possible. As soon as we have further information we will provide additional updates,”.
It is also notable that the Canadian mobile maker is only a few weeks away from launching its long-awaited BlackBerry 10, which will come accompanied with the next-generation platform from RIM.
It’s not the first time the Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) is experiencing a network outage on the Vodafone network. A similar event occurred back in September 2012, when Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) reported a brief outage of Vodafone services on its BlackBerry devices that prevented users from accessing BB messaging service. This brief outage of network service affected around 6% of BlackBerry users in Europe, however, the cause of the problem was never revealed.
Another issue of the like happened in October 2011 when the outage remained unresolved for a number of days, the company eventually had to compensate users for the inconvenience by giving away free apps.
With its BlackBerry 10 launch on January 30, Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) needs to resolve this issue as quickly as it can to avoid any chance of reminding its users of the October incident.
Shares of Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) are down about 2.10 percent in early trading.