Officials in Saudi Arabia have granted BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) a reprieve, postponing a proposed ban on the Messenger service offered by the smartphone.

Saudi Arabia had earlier threatened to block certain functions of the device over security concerns, following the lead of the United Arab Emirates.

However, the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said progress was being made on “addressing its concerns”.

Saudi Arabia represents the biggest Gulf market for RIM, with some 700,000 users resident in the country.

“In light of the positive developments in completing part of the regulatory requirements from the service providers, the regulatory authority has decided to allow the continuation of the BlackBerry Messenger services,” CITC said in a statement.

It will “continue working with the service providers to complete the rest of the regulatory requirements”.