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Hong Kong's telecom regulator says bad weather had
again delayed full repairs to undersea cables damaged last year by
an earthquake, which badly disrupted Internet access in parts of
Asia.
The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) said most of
the seven submarine cables, damaged by a powerful 7.1-magnitude
temblor off Taiwan on December 26, have now been fixed but that one
will take longer than estimated.
Repair work will be completed at the end of February, instead of
mid-February as had been anticipated earlier.
"The repair work of one section of a cable will now complete by
the end of next month," said OFTA Director General Au Man-ho.
"Bad weather, technical problems and other reasons are causing
the delay."
However, he said Internet providers had diverted Web traffic and
that the delay was not having a significant impact on Internet
services in Hong Kong.
"According to our reports from the providers, all services have
largely been resumed back to normal -- it's approaching 100
percent," he said.
Au said a new warning system will be set up next month to alert the
public if a similar Internet breakdown occurs again.
The Boxing Day earthquake snapped several international telecom
cables, sparking widespread communication disruption in Taiwan,
China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and elsewhere.
Problems also occurred as far away as Australia.
The earthquake left two people dead and at least 42 injured in
Taiwan.
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