New year, continuing delays as firms race to fix cables
(China Daily-Xinhua)Updated: 2007-01-04 09:32
Workers used underwater robots to identify spots where the lines had been severed. The robots will retrieve the damaged parts so they can be fixed.
With ideal weather conditions and barring any unforeseen delays in the repair work, all international communication services are expected to be restored around January 15.
"We will have to add some new sections of cable - up to 400 meters - to reconnect the lines," an unnamed official with China Netcom, the country's second largest telecom operator, was quoted by Xinhua as saying yesterday.
A statement issued by China Telecom, China's largest telecom operator said some internet traffic had been re-routed after the earthquake via landline cables connecting China and Europe. Satellite transmissions were also used. Some 70 percent of overseas Internet connections have been re-established.
However, because of the severe damage to the cables connecting Asia and North America, access to Web sites hosted in North America and IDD calls will not improve until the undersea cables have been repaired.
As a result of the disruption, China's telecom operators have started considering laying cables along different routes to distribute the risk of damage caused by natural disasters.
China Telecom, in collaboration with the other five domestic operators, is building new undersea cable lines connecting China and the United States. The line is called the Trans-Pacific Express.
The cables will connect the US state of Oregon to Shanghai and Qingdao. The route is far removed from the region that was affected by the earthquake.
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