A Fortunate Economic Earthquake
Telecommunications across Asia were disrupted on Wednesday after an earthquake off Taiwan damaged undersea cables, jamming Internet services as voice and data traffic vied for space on smaller cables and slower satellite links. The quake disrupted services in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, but a ripple effect was felt in other parts of the world. Many phone subscribers could not get through to Europe, regional telecommunications operators reported, as they raced to reroute their traffic to alternative lanes.
Financial companies and businesses in the region were hit hard, as online banking and communications between financial markets and traders were affected. The stock exchanges in Tokyo and Hong Kong said they were working without problems, and traders found ways to complete their transactions. Networks in the United States and Europe were not affected. However, many companies with subsidiaries, partners or manufacturers in Asia are finding their communications disrupted. Experts in Taiwan and elsewhere said that repairs to undersea cables could take weeks, raising fears of more communications difficulties in Taiwan, the fifth-largest economy in Asia.
As recently as a decade ago, Asia was connected to the United States by only five cables, all through Japan. The dot-com boom ushered in a period of rapid expansion, and cables now connect Australia, China and South Korea directly to the United States.
