Asia Internet slowly comes back online

Millions of frustrated Internet users across Asia slowly regained access to overseas websites on Friday, three days after an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan snapped several vital undersea cables.

Telecoms operators across the region re-routed Internet links to circumvent the ruptured lines off the southern part of the island as engineers donned diving suits to assess the damage and begin repairs.

But customers in the Philippines have been asked to play their part too - by limiting overseas calls to family and friends over the New Year.

PCCW, Hong Kongีs largest fixed-line operator, said it was seeing continuous improvement in Internet access through data re-routing and acquisition of alternative bandwidth.

าWe are expecting substantial improvement of the service over the next 24 hours,ำ it said in a statement.

A spokesman earlier said all international-call and roaming services had returned to normal.

Hong Kongีs telecommunications authority said five maintenance ships had been dispatched to repair six fibre-optic cables, which handle about 90 per cent of telecommunications capacity in the area.

าOverall, there has been some improvement in access to the Internet today. However, most users will continue to experience slow access,ำ it said in a statement.

It added some ships arrived at the scene Thursday, but the weather had obstructed survey and assessment work.

าInitial surveys indicated damage to the submarine cables was substantial,ำ it said.

The authority said it may take longer to repair the cables than the original estimate of five to seven days.

Connections remained slow in Malaysia and Thailand, where communications company CAT Telecom said capacity had only been restored to 50 per cent.
Analysts said it was too early to estimate the total financial losses caused by the weekีs Internet mayhem.