Asian Telcos Shirk Fiber Upgrades Because Pacific Earthquakes Are So Rare

Stupidity

from the state-of-denial dept

As we mentioned yesterday, it was already pretty clear before the recent earthquake that Asian fiber networks were capacity strapped and lacked redundancy. When fiber lines were cut, many Asia network operators were forced to reroute their traffic to the U.S. via elaborate alternative routes, creating laggy connections as user traffic bounced halfway around the globe. Those users will have to get used to sluggish connectivity, because initial sea floor exploration indicates damage to the cables is substantial, and could take longer to repair than previously estimated. Hong Kong authorities have asked users to “minimize nonessential downloading of large files from overseas,” in the hopes of preserving bandwidth. As we’ve noted, there are a lot of companies planning to expand capacity in the region, driven largely by demand. Of course there’s several providers looking to take the cheap way out — the largest telcos in both South Korea and Taiwan are insisting that additional lines aren’t necessary because earthquakes are apparently rare in the Pacific, despite the fact they live in the one of the world’s most tectonically active regions. Nothing screams customer dedication quite like admitting you’re cheap in the middle of a major connectivity crisis.