Undersea cable troubles bode well for new companies

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) announced that full service was restored yesterday on the China-US undersea cable, which abruptly disconnected Internet service to North American for over 26 million Net users in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong earlier this month.

But damage to customer faith in the line, which is operated by a consortium of state-run telecom firms from around Asia, may be more difficult to repair.

Twice in the past two months, on Feb. 9 and March 9, problems with the undersea cable cut off Internet users here from North American-based Web sites. The first incident was caused by an electrical malfunction in the cable, while officials believe a fishing trawler severed the cable in the second instance.

Both incidents occurred off the coast of China near Chongmingdao (崇明島), an island near Shanghai. Both times, Internet service for Taiwan was rerouted through an older cable connecting the nation to Japan, and from Japan to the US.

Put into service in January 2000, the damaged China-US cable is part of a pan-Asia network built by 10 countries and 15 telecommunications firms. The cable connects Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia with the US. It is made of bundled fiber-optic strands sheathed in tough armor meant to prevent accidental damage.

Two new companies entering the local undersea cable market, Level 3 Asia and Asia Global Crossings promise to maintain constant service by planting their lines in ocean areas that are not heavily fished. The two firms also plan to partner with Taiwan's new fixed line telecom services carriers in order to smooth landing license procedures and connect to Taiwan's telecom network.

Another company looking to compete in the undersea cable market in Taiwan is Singapore Telecom Ltd, which is already a 24.3 percent shareholder in New Century Infocomm Co (also known as Sparq, 速博), one of Taiwan's three new fixed-line telecom companies. The firm's new C2C and APCN2 cables will be up and running in the third quarter this year, according to SingTel spokesman Francis Huan.

Officials from these firms say they will installing the undersea cable properly and take swift action in the event of a problem.