Quakes in Taiwan strike Asian net, telecom services
27 Dec 2006
In a low blow to high tech, the earthquakes near Taiwan, have disrupted internet and telecom services across Asia as the undersea Sea-Me-We3 linking Europe to Asia and APCN2 network that connects Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, were damaged.
According to the US Geological Survey web site, the main quake, classified as "major" struck 10km under the seabed, igniting fears of another tsunami strike.
Among the services to be hit the hardest by the quakes, including one measuring 7.1 Richter, were corporate communications, financial services including online banking, telecom voice and data services in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and China. However, Hong Kong's stock exchange reported normalcy.
According to reports eight STM-1 cables from Okinawa off Japan and 4 STM-1 cables to Shanghai are acting as backup, Chunghwa said in a statement. The company may also use the ST-1 satellite.
Voice call services to the US had broken down to less than half the handling capacity and to China and Japan only 10 per cent. Some companies are rerouting their calls within Asia through the US and Europe.
Reports say that repairs could take several weeks.
