The BlackBerry network was being restored to normal service yesterday after disruptions delayed users’ e-mail messages and shut off access to the internet.

The problems emanated from Research In Motion (RIM), the Canada-based company that provides the network for the cell phone and mobile internet devices and affected customers throughout North America.

Digicel and M3 Wireless have BlackBerry subscribers on the Island and both companies yesterday acknowledged there had been problems with the service that had been beyond their control.

Although the cellular providers said they would give an explanatory statement on the affair, none was received from either by press time.

RIM, which was yesterday investigating the cause of the problems, did not say how many of its 8 million BlackBerry subscribers had been hit, but said that phone call services had not been hit by the disruption.

The BlackBerry has become a favourite mobile communications gadget of many professionals around the world, and yesterday’s outage was the first widely reported service disruption in nearly two years.

Bloomberg reported that service failures began in the US and Canada on Tuesday evening, and most subscribers there regained the ability to send and receive e-mails overnight. But yesterday morning a backlog of messages on the system was continuing to delay service for some customers, US wireless providers said.

“It’s unfortunately a black eye for the company,” said Richard Williams, director of research at ICAP in Jersey City, New Jersey. “A lot of people consider a BlackBerry mission critical.” AT&T Inc., the largest US wireless service provider, said it had an increase in calls to its customer service hotline during the outage. Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc, began receiving calls from customers at roughly 6 p.m. New York time yesterday, spokesman Jim Gerace said.

Web browsers and other BlackBerry software that requires internet access were working again yesterday after a disruption, said Todd Christy, chief technology officer of Pyxis Mobile Inc., a Waltham, Massachusetts-based company that makes financial software for Research In Motion’s devices.

Reuters reported that by the time the service sputtered back to life, jamming the hand-held devices with a torrent of delayed messages, grumbles had been heard at the highest levels of business and government.

“The sound of BlackBerries being thrown against the desk was deafening for a while,” said Garth Turner, a member of the Canadian Parliament known for his constant internet blogging.

“Because it has become the de facto channel of communications around this place, it actually impacts on the government of Canada and the work of the whole House of Commons.”

BlackBerry was also the first order of business at a White House Press briefing yesterday morning.

“I apologize to a number of you who tried e-mailing over the last 14 hours,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters. “We're 14 hours into no BlackBerry, so you can imagine how things are,” he said. “We've already started a 12-step group.”