PLDT says Taiwan tremor has minimal effect on services

MANILA, Philippines - Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said yesterday that the recent earthquake in Taiwan had minimal impact on its international voice and data services.

”Only one percent of the total PLDT Group circuits were adversely affected and the majority of the services initially affected were quickly restored,” PLDT spokesperson Ramon Isberto said.

PLDT also reported that its newest and largest cable system, the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) which lands in La Union and services Asia and North America , as well as the Guam-Philippines Cable System which lands in Batangas, remain unaffected and able to carry additional traffic when needed.

Several cable systems that many of the world’s carriers and PLDT use were either cut or experienced failure near Taiwan after a lag of several hours from the time the earthquake struck southern Taiwan .

These included SMW3, APCN, APCN2, EAC and China-US Cable Network. Services in APCN2 and EAC were immediately restored via switching to unaffected paths/segments.

Restorable services in SMW3 and APCN were also restored immediately through other cable systems.

PLDT Group’s circuits in the China-US Cable Network were in segments that were not cut and thus remain operational, the company said.

The APCN, SMW,. APCN2 and China-US Cable Network consortia have already dispatched or arranged to dispatch a fleet of cable ships near the faults to repair the cable systems, it added.   – Mary Ann Reyes