BlackBerry outage caused by 'switch failure'

BlackBerry maker RIM has finally explained to users why its service has been broken for the past two days.

The company has come under fire for failing to keep millions of users informed after the service collapsed on Monday, went offline again yesterday and remains down for many users today.

The messaging company said a switch failure was behind the problems, although it made no predictions about when the service might be back to normal.

“The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure,” the company said in a statement.

“Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested.

"As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible.”

RIM was expected to clarify the situation at its BlackBerry Innovation Forum in London today, but early indications - and RIM's Twitter feed - suggest the company is still unsure when the service will be fully operational again.

“Message delays were caused by a core switch failure in RIM's infrastructure. Sincerely sorry, but now being resolved,” the company tweeted.