Blackberry Network Down For Hours

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Blackberry devices across the country were unable to send or receive emails for nearly four hours earlier Friday, spokesmen at Cingular and T-Mobile said.

The network disruptions started at 8:15 EDT and lasted until about noon and were related to issues at Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM), the company that makes the popular Blackberry wireless device.

A Research in Motion spokesperson could not be reached immediately.

The service interruption affected many of Research in Motion's carrier partners, a T-Mobile spokesman said.

Blackberries are also offered by other mobile carriers including Sprint Corp. (FON), Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL) and Verizon Wireless.

The popular wireless devices are particularly popular with businesses. Cingular spokesman Mark Siegel said Cingular does not release the number of Blackberry devices in use.

-By Ellen Sheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5863; ellen.sheng@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 17th June 2005