TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Asian Telecoms Say Will Not Invest More in Backup Lines

Asian Telecoms Say Will Not Invest More in Backup Lines

Associated Press News Wire (ap@telecom-digest.org)
Fri, 29 Dec 2006 16:51:25 -0600

TAIPEI, Dec 29 (AP): Asian telecom companies said Friday they
will not invest more in backup lines to protect against disasters like
the recent earthquake that snarled telephone and Internet service across
Asia, and as far as the United States (US).

The quake, which damaged undersea cables off Taiwan Tuesday, was so rare
that there is no need to spend money on extra lines, said Wu Chih-ming,
a senior official at Chunghwa Telecom Company, Taiwan's biggest
telecommunications company.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau measured the quake at magnitude 6.7
while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.1.

"We won't consider laying more backup cables for now because such an
incident might not happen in another 100 years", Wu said. Companies
from Japan to Singapore Friday were still scrambling to fully restore
service. Since it will take weeks to repair the cables off Taiwan,
companies were rerouting traffic through satellites and cables that
were not damaged.

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