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Asia's internet in peril as cable network breaks in TWO places
Philippine telco tries to calm angry customers with backup plan
Asia Pacific’s internet traffic is likely to be up the spout until mid-April after a key pan-regional undersea cable system suffered damage in two places.
The news was revealed on the Facebook page of Asian telco giant the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (via TechInAsia).
It said that the Asia Pacific Cable Network (ACPN) suffered “fibre breaks” in the areas between Taiwan and Japan, and China-Korea.
It continued:
This has impacted on telecoms traffic in a large area of the Asia Pacific region, including the Philippines. As a result, this may affect your data service. The APCN consortium that manages the cable system is now undertaking repairs and expects to finish in mid-April.
PLDT added that while the repair work is being done it has re-routed voice and data traffic to two other cable systems – namely the Asia-America Gateway and the Asia Submarine Cable Express.
Judging by the comments left beneath the post, the telco’s customers aren’t particularly happy about the situation, with many of them calling for a rebate if their service is interrupted or degraded as a result.
The Asia Pacific Cable Network is a key subsea cable system which connects nine countries in the region, spanning over 12,000 kilometres. ®