Undersea fiber cut after Taiwan earthquake - PCCW / Singtel / KT e tc connectivity disrupted

Thu Dec 28 05:57:55 UTC 2006

I would expect that some of the affected cables have lost dc power used to drive
repeaters and amplifiers (10 kv d.c.) from their landing stations. Or that is at
least the hope at this time. The WSJ today published a superb article along with
a unusually detailed global route map. See intro along with some comments
concerning the route map (tinyurl): 
--

Quake Damages Undersea Cables,
Disrupting Internet Service in Asia
By JASON DEAN
December 27, 2006 2:36 p.m.

[FAC: Assuming the link below works, the article below contains an excellent
global view of what looks like most, if not all, of the major submarine cable
routes around the world in use today. It's a keeper, IMO, so I suggest
downloading it to your HD. Here's the pdf, which is probably subject to the same
shelf life constraint: http://tinyurl.com/ya45oo ]

BEIJING -- A big earthquake near Taiwan disrupted phone and Internet traffic
across Asia Wednesday, highlighting the fragility of a global telecommunications
system that still relies on vulnerable undersea cables to carry data.

The magnitude 6.7 temblor that struck late Tuesday off Taiwan's southern coast
cut several fiber-optic cables that carry communications traffic through a key
nexus in Asia, connecting Hong Kong and Southeast Asia with Japan and,
ultimately, North America.

Continued at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116719850925860370.html?mod=djemTECH

Enjoy! 

On Thu Dec 28  0:35 , Jared Mauch  sent:

>
>On Thu, Dec 28, 2006 at 04:55:25AM +0000, Gaurab Raj Upadhaya wrote:
>> 
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA1
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Information seems to suggest that these all have one or other faults  
>> due to the earthquake.  Some probably have more serious problems then  
>> others.
>> 
>> SMW3 (Sea-me-we 3).
>> FNAL and FEA (FLAG North Asia Loop) ;
>> RNAL = Reach North Asia Loop
>> APCN2 (Asia Pacific Network 2)
>> 
>> C2C - Singtel's coast to coast
>> EAC = East Asia Crossing (EAC)
>> 
>> Traffic is gradually coming back through ad-hoc setups and re-routes,  
>> but cable providers are saying minimum 3 weeks for full recovery.
>
>	I've wondered how many boats/subs exist for these repairs
>and if attempting to do them all in parallel is going to be a big
>problem.  With 6 systems having outages, it will be interesting to see
>when various paths/systems come back online and if there is a gating
>factor in underseas repair gear being available in the region.
>
>	- jared
>
>-- 
>Jared Mauch  | pgp key available via finger from jared at puck.nether.net
>clue++;      | http://puck.nether.net/~jared/  My statements are only mine.