In the wake of the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan, telecom operators have been trying to address problems from damaged submarine cables.
In an email to TelecomFinance, Pacnet, a telecom services provider said: “Pacnet’s EAC cable has…
In the wake of the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan, telecom operators have been trying to address problems from damaged submarine cables.
In an email to TelecomFinance, Pacnet, a telecom services provider said: “Pacnet’s EAC cable has been impacted near Ajigaura. Restoration across alternative paths are continuing with a significant portion of services restored. While Pacnet engineers have made substantial progress, they continue to monitor the traffic situation and expedite all processes necessary to minimise disruption. In parallel, Pacnet’s marine maintenance team is working on repair logistics – cable ships have been mobilised, ETA for transit to the cable repair area to be confirmed. The Ajigaura Cable Landing Station is fully operational with main power supply restored at the facility and standby generators in place.”
Japanese cellco Softbank also confirmed that their network was damaged, while China Telecom said that the Internet access speed to websites in or towards North America is slower than usual but that its international voice services remained normal. The company added that “it has been striving to facilitate the recovery work and currently the related service is basically back to normal.”
Hong Kong-based telco PCCW also told TelecomFinance that “due to the hard work of our staff and support from our carrier partners over the weekend, PCCW’s Internet service has been restored to normal service performance levels.
“However, we are acutely aware of the circumstances in Japan, including the large number of aftershocks and the high potential for more severe earthquake and tsunami activity and the stability of its nuclear power facilities and possible interruption of power supply which may impact service provisioning. We are closely monitoring the situation and will take appropriate contingency measures should the situation in Japan deteriorate and impact our service levels.”
