Repair ship from Japan arrives Taiwan to fix undersea telecom cables

Source: CCTV.com | 01-04-2007 10:42

Telecommunication operators and Internet users need to sit tight a little longer before service returns to normal. Authorities say damage to undersea cables caused by an earthquake off Taiwan is more serious than previously thought. And repairs are still ongoing.

A repair ship from Japan arrived in northern Taiwan on Wednesday to fix undersea cables damaged by last week's earthquake. The ship was the first of four to arrive in the area. A worker on the ship said that at the first repair location, the cables are 3,500 metres deep.

Worker said, "From here, we are going to southern Taiwan for the first repair which is in a deeper sea area. After seven days of repair, we are going to the next site, just near Taiwan, which is 136 metres deep."

A second ship was expected to arrive in southern Taiwan on Thursday. A senior official at Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest telecommunications company, said that the two ships will take two to three weeks to complete their task.

The Taiwan earthquake damaged around 300 kilometers of seabed, breaking six undersea cables running from Hong Kong to Europe and North America. Services were gradually restored in the days following the quake, but remain affected by the damage.

The load of the only cable that was not damaged by the earthquake is being increased in order to ease telecommunication congestion.

Editor:Du Xiaodan