Updated: Thu Dec. 17 2009 10:54:02

CTV.ca News Staff

BlackBerry users in North America are slowly regaining access to email after a long shut down due to an unspecified network issue from maker Research in Motion.

"RIM has isolated and resolved the issue that was impacting some BlackBerry customers earlier this morning," RIM wrote in a statement to CTV.ca

"Some customers may still experience delays as email queues are processed."

Users with individual plans were unable to access email starting at about 3:15 a.m. Those under corporate plans received email as usual.

Phone service, browsing and PIN-to-PIN messaging were not affected.

Rogers Wireless says it was informed by Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM that this is an unspecified network problem that is affecting multiple wireless carriers in the Americas.

"Blackberry Internet service subscribers may be unable to send or receive messages view email attachments, or request to see more text," Odette Coleman, Rogers' Director of Communications told CTV.ca during the height of outage.

She said it is unclear how many Rogers customers were affected.