Report: RIM May Have Cut Deal With Saudi Arabia

John Ribeiro writes on NetworkWorld:

Research in Motion (RIM) and Saudi Arabia have arrived at a preliminary agreement that will involve the company setting up its server there and providing the government access to the data, according to media reports on Saturday from Saudi Arabia.

An agreement by RIM with Saudi Arabia could set a precedent for similar deals with other countries, including India, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Indonesia, which are demanding that RIM locate servers in their country, and provide access to data to their security forces, analysts said.

Saudi Arabia's telecom regulator, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), and local phone operators have reached a preliminary agreement with RIM over the handling of BlackBerry data that will involve setting up a server in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the talks.

More here.