Telecoms ask public to limit overseas calls, Internet use

Telecommunications companies yesterday called on their customers to limit overseas calls, including New Year's greetings, following the earthquake that cut undersea cables off Taiwan.

The companies appealed to the public not to make lengthy overseas calls to relatives on New Year's Day - a traditional practice in the country - to avoid straining the limited capacity of the alternative systems being used.

"Even as the situation normalizes, we encourage our customers to send their New Year greetings to friends and loved ones abroad early and thus avoid the last minute rush at New Year's Eve," said Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Smart Communications in a joint statement.

"We have to use our communications properly and they have the whole day of January 1. So on those 24 hours, don't all call simultaneously and don't chat extensively. Just important calls only," appealed Jones Campos, spokesman of rival Globe Telecom.

Philippine telecom officials earlier said the companies had their capacity cut by as much as 40 percent due to the quake.

PLDT and sister company Smart, said they had "restored sufficient capacity to handle normal levels of traffic in its international voice and Internet data services," by using alternative routes.

"We have ensured that the mission-critical communications requirements of our key corporate customers such as call centers, banks and semi-conductor companies have been fully provided for," the companies said.

Globe spokesman Campos said his company was also working to use alternate routes through Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia to replace damaged routes to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States.

However, all the telecom companies said it would take weeks before services normalize fully due to the huge damage to the cables.

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked Taiwan on Tuesday damaged several undersea cables in the region, jamming up the Internet and telecoms systems across much of East Asia. — AFP