Saudis say deal reached on Blackberry

An agreement was reached today between the Saudi Arabian authorities and the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry smart phone, averting a ban on the service.

The deal would involve Research in Motion installing a server in the kingdom, allowing the Saudi government to monitor BlackBerry data, an official said.

The Saudi telecommunications regulatory agency announced earlier this week that BlackBerry’s messenger service would be halted on Friday over concerns that its data could not be monitored.