Phone firms rush to mend undersea cable<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Reuters): Telephone companies from Singapore and
\nIndonesia scrambled on Tuesday to repair a break in an undersea
\ntelecommunications cable that led to major Internet traffic jams
\nfor millions of users across the globe.<\/p>\n
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd said it had dispatched a
\ncable ship to repair the SEA-ME-WE 3 cable, which was cut between
\nSingapore and Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The 38,000 km (23,600 miles) cable links Australia, Asia and
\nEurope and is one of the world's busiest Internet cables.<\/p>\n
The cause of the damage was unknown, but possibilities include
\na ship's anchor or earthquake.<\/p>\n
\"We still don't know what caused the cut and it's part of the
\ninternational cable...through 33 countries,\" said a spokesman for
\nTelstra Corp Ltd, Australia's biggest Internet provider, which
\nlost 65 percent of its international capacity on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"We have been told that it has impacted Indonesia, Japan, Hong
\nKong, the UK and United States at least and possibly other
\ncountries as well,\" he added.<\/p>\n
SingTel, which is coordinating repair efforts with Indonesian
\ninternational telecommunications operator Indosat, said its own
\ntraffic to Australia had not been disrupted.<\/p>\n
\"We've re-routed traffic since the damage occurred,\" a
\nspokesman for the Singaporean company said.<\/p>\n
Telstra, with more than 650,000 customers, relies on the cable
\nfor around 60 percent of its traffic.<\/p>\n
It posted a notice on its website warning customers of long
\ndelays due to the disruption to its \"Australian backbone\".<\/p>\n
Telstra said its Big Pond network was virtually closed down
\novernight, but had since been able to re-route traffic and was
\nnow operating at 75 percent capacity.<\/p>\n
Telstra said delays were to be expected during peak traffic
\ntimes on international connections from Australia.<\/p>\n
It said it would take a number of days to repair the cable.<\/p>\n
SingTel said the cable is owned by a consortium of more than
\n40 parties, including Telstra, SingTel, Indosat, Hong Kong
\nTelecom, British Telecommunications Plc and France Telecom among
\nothers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/phone-firms-rush-to-mend-undersea-cable-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}