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Taiwan quake cuts off much of Asia Internet
Posted: 27 December 2006 1840 hrs
HONG KONG : Internet and phone services have been disrupted across
much of Asia after an earthquake damaged undersea cables, leaving
one of the world's most tech-savvy regions in a virtual
blackout.
From frustrated traders seeking in vain for stock quotes to anxious
newshounds accustomed to round-the-clock updates on world events,
millions of people from China to Japan to Australia were believed
to have been affected.
There was no chaos on the stock exchanges
or any of the other doomsday scenarios of science fiction,
but reports that services could be down for weeks were
dramatic enough.
"It is not a matter of days," said Hong Seoung-Yong, an official
with South Korea's information and communication ministry. "It will
take longer than that to repair the damaged lines."
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Taiwan on Tuesday
night, which was followed by several smaller quakes in the region,
apparently damaged the vast network of underwater cables that
enables modern communication.
"The Internet capacity in Taiwan is about
40 percent now, so the service is jammed," said a spokesman
for Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest phone company on
Tuesday.
The disruption was widespread, hitting China, Japan, South Korea,
Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and elsewhere, with knock-on effects
as far away as Australia for companies whose Internet is routed
through affected areas.
Phone services in some countries were also disrupted, in particular
for calls to the United States.
"Several undersea data cables were damaged," said a spokesman for
PCCW, Hong Kong's biggest telecoms company.
Service providers quickly tried to redirect customers to the cables
that had not been affected but the reduced capacity was no match
for the normal workload of users, leaving Internet service that was
painfully slow or non-existent.
"It's a nightmare, basically, because we have no idea what is going
on in the markets today," said Steve Rowles, an analyst with CFC
Seymour in Hong Kong, who echoed others in saying that damage was
limited due to year's end.
"It has happened on the right day as a lot of people are away for
holidays, so there's low trading volumes," he said.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange, the world's largest bourse
outside of New York, was functioning without problems, a spokesman
said.
The Hong Kong stock exchange also said it was also working without
problems, but after-hours crude trading in Singapore was affected
as traders reported they could not access the New York Mercantile
Exchange (Nymex).
NTT Communications, the long-distance call business of Japan's
largest telecom firm Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., said
1,400 toll-free phone lines and 84 international lines used
internally by companies were affected.
Internet disruptions were felt across China, with web-users in
cities as far apart as Beijing in the north and Chengdu in the
southwest reporting difficulties accessing overseas websites, state
media reported.
The crux of the trouble seemed to be in the underseas routes near
Taiwan, which providers would try to bypass in favour of other
routes through Europe, said a spokesman for Japanese telecoms firm
KDDI Corp, Satoru Ito.
"If there is too much traffic on that route, it might get blocked
up and further slow down Internet connections," Ito said.
