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Thailand Internet slowdown 'until end of February'; CAT explores backup options

(TNA) - CAT Telecom, Thailand's Internet regulator and monopoly operator of the country's international gateway, said it would invest in 300 extra internet connections via the Indian Ocean as alternatives to those in the Pacific that failed after a powerful earthquake off Taiwan.

Thailand was slowly recovering its Internet connectivity on Friday, but was still operating far below normal bandwidth as Korean and Taiwanese technical operators tried to repair the damaged and seveered cables from the Tuesday earthquake.

Four of CAT’s eight optical networks had been affected by the earthquake, causing its speed to drop by 50 per cent. The problem was expected to continue until repairs to the undersea network were completed.

A company executive told reporters that he did not expect operations to be back at full strength before the end of February.

Jirachai Srichorn, vice president of CAT Telecom, told reporters that CAT Telecom would share the maintenance costs with other members in the submarine cable consortium. It has yet to estimate the financial losses as a result of the damages to the undersea cable networks.

He said that users might have felt the impact of the damages more strongly, had CAT Telecom not had alternative routes in the Indian Ocean and therefore were able to re-route about 50 per cent of the traffic away from damaged submarine cables.

The cables account for about 90 per cent of total telecom services capacity, and principally affected Thailand's connections to Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and the US.

The company has put forward a request to the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union, which coordinates global telecom networks and services, to increase its internet capacity by 600 megabit via the Indian Ocean.

Jirachai said he expected approval within the next few days.

Bangkok Post, 29 Dec 2006