The problems began at around 8AM. All internet services, including web browsing, email and the BBM instant messenger application were cut off, for both corporate and consumer BlackBerry users.
A spokeswoman for Vodafone said the failure was affecting its customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
It did not appear that any other mobile networks were affected, but Vodafone put the blame for the ongoing outage squarely on RIM.
"Blackberry/RIM have confirmed that they are experiencing issues with services such as BBM, email and internet and that they are working to fix this," Vodafone told customers.
"Vodafone has not been given an estimated fix time but we're asking RIM to keep us updated.
"Customers wanting more information should contact Blackberry directly."
A spokeswoman said that repairs were expected to take effect "very soon".
The failure is the latest blow to RIM, which is struggling to compete in the smartphone market against Apple, and handsets based on Google and Microsoft's software. It echoes on a smaller scale a major failure across all netowrks in Europe last year, when BlackBerry owners were unable to acess internet services for almost a week.
