Etisalat says iMessage service to resume

Apple iMessenge service will resume and issues with it will be addressed shortly, Etisalat said.
Du also released a statement about the outage, saying, "Service will resume by this evening. We apologise to our customers for this temporary inconvenience."
Earlier, Etisalat disabled Apple's popular iMessage and FaceTime services within the UAE.
Some iPhone and iPad users said that they have been unable to use the services over the past 24 hours.
Etisalat confirmed via Twitter that the services had been suspended. The use of iMessage is currently being reviewed by the local Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), the operator claimed.
"Dear Customers, Please note that FaceTime has been disabled by #Apple, as for iMessage, it is currently under investigation with the #TRA," Etisalat wrote in one tweet.
"iMessage and FaceTime are not enabled due to local regulations, shall there be any changes we will announce it," it said in another.
Mohamed Al Ghanim, the director general of the TRA, told The National that there was "no intention to block iMessage".
However, he said that he was checking with the UAE's telecoms operators as to why some Apple services appear to have been blocked.
iMessage allows Apple users to send free SMS-style messages to each other, as well as share files. It is similar to the BlackBerry Messenger product. FaceTime allows users to make video calls.
Despite confirmation of the ban, one Etisalat user said that he could continue using the iMessage service.
Another UAE resident said via Twitter that Du had also suspended the iMessage service, although this could not immediately be confirmed.
bflanagan@thenational.ae