Internet alert system established

An alert system designed to prevent a repeat of the Internet chaos that followed earthquakes in southern Taiwan on Dec. 26 will be introduced next month, Hong Kong's telecommunications authority said yesterday.

The system will require operators to report larger disruptions and stoppages to the Office of Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) within a specified time. The authority would be responsible for then informing the public.

The quakes damaged four of Chunghwa Telecom Co's (中華電信) six undersea cables, cutting off or slowing down the voice, data and Internet connections of many Asian countries with India, Europe and the US.

Most networks resumed service within 48 hours after re-routing connections, but many continued to suffer delays during peak times for up to two weeks.

Service providers and the OFTA came under criticism for failing to inform customers of the problem promptly. The authority only released a statement almost 24 hours after the damage.

Hong Kong Director-General of Telecommunications Au Man-ho (區文浩) said he expected that the new warning system would be in place next month.

"We consider that both the operators and OFTA should play their respective roles in advising the users and the public," he said.

Separately, China's biggest telecommunications firms have restored nearly all phone and Internet capacity that was affected by last month's quakes, state media reported yesterday.

China Telecom Corp (中國電信), China's biggest fixed-line company, and China Network Communications Group (中國網通), known as China Netcom, said major cables handling fiber-optic traffic, mostly between China and North America, had been "basically" fixed, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.