• Today is : Nov 26, 2016 - 6:10 pm
  • Welcome to webhostingnews.in
0

Broken cable reportedly disconnected US island territory from Internet

Computer and Internet   Write Comment 10th July, 2015

School / University:

New Delhi - Delhi - (India)

Mobile: 9654785987

n undersea, fiber-optic cable that supplies Internet connectivity to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was reportedly cut more than 48 hours ago, taking tens of thousands of people offline. Access is being gradually restored to the US territory, located north of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean. IT&E, the primary telecommunications provider, said yesterday that "in the next 2 to 3 days, we’ll be able to provide a better timeline for the full restoration of services." While IT&E attempts to fix the undersea cable, it has partially restored service by reviving an old microwave link.

In 1997, the company "invested $14 million... to lay an undersea fiber-optic cable that links the CNMI and Guam, and from Guam to an undersea cable across the Pacific," the report said, calling it the "lone undersea cable linking CNMI to [the] rest of the world." CNMI previously relied on the microwave link.

The CNMI's government website appears to be offline.

CNMI has a population of 53,833 according to 2010 Census data, primarily on the islands of Saipan, Rota and Tinian. CNMI has 14 islands in total. Saipan alone has a population of 48,220.

In a press release, IT&E said its crews had not identified the exact cause of the cable cut, "but indications are that this failure is a result of complications from the recent passing of Typhoon Chan-Hom, through the Marianas islands." While on-island communications were still possible, "all off-island communication is not possible."

In Guam, Cellular service on older networks was also affected, but customers on 4G LTE and HSPA networks retained voice and data services.

While the cable is apparently still broken, IT&E described yesterday how it restored partial service using the microwave link.

"IT&E crews have been working around the clock to restore services to the CNMI," the company said. "The microwave link which is used to supplement and back up the under sea cable was damaged in Typhoon Dolphin [in May]. As a first step in restoring connectivity to the CNMI, the IT&E Microwave link, connecting Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan, was partially restored."

“Limited voice connections have been established between Guam and Saipan and we are working to restore more lines,” Oehlerking said.

The cable also broke in 2008 "when an underwater boulder rolled and snapped the cable," the Pacific Daily News wrote.

Source:http://arstechnica.com