Here’s what Stephen Reid had to say on the official forums: 4b3s1s
“We can customers have a great service to play on. For those of you who may have already imported the game, we will be investigating solutions to allow you to continue to play on a local server once they come online in March.
EDIT: As pointed out, southern hemisphere seasons are reversed! When we say ‘Spring’ you can substitute ‘Q1/Q2 2012’. Apologies for that. “
So there you have it, straight from the man himself! official confirmation that it’s coming soon.