Colombia wants BlackBerry users compensated

Colombia's chief consumer watchdog urged telecoms service providers to compensate customers locally for lost service as a result of the global BlackBerry outage, promising an investigation into the breakdown.

Industry and Commerce Superintendent Jose Miguel De La Calle said carriers including Telefonica's Movistar and America Movil's Comcel should act on their own as intermediaries between consumers and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.

"We have the resources and capability to investigate this lack of service, so we will do it," De La Calle told a news conference. 

"Every Colombian who is a BlackBerry customer has paid for service and should receive it."

He declined to say if regulators would impose any sanctions against the companies, saying the investigation was preliminary.

Colombia experienced two other BlackBerry outages in the past month, before the most recent problems that have impacted customers all over the world.

Research in Motion blamed the disruption on a "core switch failure" within its infrastructure.

Comments on RIM's Facebook page and Twitter feeds numbered in the thousands on Wednesday afternoon, as BlackBerry users vented their frustrations.

The Colombia specific BlackBerry Twitter feed (@BlackBerry_CO) said restoration of full service was RIM's first priority.