China Telecom said that 30 percent of its 930 megabyte transfer capacity has been restored following the severing of an underwater fiber optic cable, thanks to two rented emergency satellite circuits to link China with the United States and the use of a range of traffic re-routing measures.
In the meantime, a Japanese repair ship has departed for the accident site, but no further information has been sent from the repair boat, said Leng Rongquan, vice manager of the China's leading telecom operator.
Leng said that the cable is expected to be relinked by February23 but the repair process will depend on the weather.
On February 9, a major undersea fiber optic cable linking China with the United States was cut in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, cutting Internet access to US websites to millions of Internet users in China. Experts said that it's hard to predict the financial loss.
Leng said that his company has received requests from customers for compensation because of their financial loss. He said his company has taken a series of immediate measures since the accident and will "tackle it in a proper way."
(eastday.com 02/18/2001)
