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News Releases
2007
KDDI Announces Restoration of Undersea Cables Destroyed by the Taiwan Earthquake

KDDI Corporation

2007/02/13

On Tuesday, December 26, 2006, an earthquake which occurred off the southwest coast of Taiwan detroyed the fiber-optic undersea cables found in 19 regions in 9 cable systems over an area of approximately 250 km, resulting in international communication disruptions in Hong Kong, Singapore and most of South-east Asia.

KDDI apologizes for the inconvenience that this has caused to our customers.

KDDI utilized satellite and other undersea cables to implement emergency detouring measures for its international communication service while working closely together with the telecommunication operators in relevant countries.

KDDI also jointly worked with seven countries, two regions and nine telecommunication operators to carry out restoration work on the undersea cables destroyed.

As the owner and corporation responsible for the maintenance of the cables, KDDI dispatched two repair cable ships (KDD Ocean Link and KDD Pacific Link) operated by its subsidiary company, Kokusai Cable Ship Co., Ltd to carry out the restoration work.

We are pleased to announce that following the completion of restoration of the China-Us, Sea-Me-We3, APCN routes, KDDI's main route, APCN2 and the FLAG route were also restored on 10th and 12th February respectively.

With this, the undersea cables in the relevant regions have been restored close to pre-disaster conditions, and services disrupted by this earthquake are fully restored.

KDDI has been diversifying its undersea cable routes, but we view the consequences of this disaster seriously.Hence, we will continue to work on constructing a more reliable communication network.

Figure: KDDI Global Network Map

1. Date and Time of Earthquake
26th Dec 2006 (Tue) approx. 21:30 hrs (Japan time)

2. Restoration of Undersea Cables
Two repair cable ships operated by subsidiary company were dispatched to carry out restoration work jointly with telecommunication operators in other countries. As a result, the main route, APCN2 and the FLAG route were restored on 10th and 12th February 2007 respectively. With this, the undersea cables in the relevant regions have been restored close to pre-disaster conditions.

Cable System
Completion of Restoration
China - US [1]
23rd January
Sea - Me - We3
27th January
APCN
2nd February
FNAL
2nd February
RNAL
2nd February
C2C
10th February
APCN2 [2]
10th February
FLAG
12th February
EAC
In progress

[1]  Restored by KOL (KDD Ocean Link)
[2]  Restored by KPL (KDD Pacific Link)

3. Restoration of Services
International Telephone Service
International Dial Service was fully restored on 3rd February 2007 (Sat). Super World Card, Super Japan Direct and Japan Direct services to all affected regions have also been restored on 12th February 2007 (Mon).

International Communications Services for Companies
- International Data Communications Service
International Leased Circuit Service, International IP-VPN, International Frame Relay, International Cell Relay were fully restored on 3rd February 2007 (Sat).

- International Telephone Service
Bar net, World Free Phone were restored on 11th February 2007 (Sun).
Immarsat (from Fleet Terminals) Restored on 27th December 2006 (Wed).

Internet Service
Internet access to countries in Asia was restored on 10th February 2007 (Sat).

Note: A new cable problem was discovered on Monday, January 8, 2007 which has been disrupting internet connection to Indonesia.

au (Cell-phone Service)
Disruptions were observed in audio calls made with Global Expert and Global Passport Services, but these were restored on 27th December 2006 (Wed).
During restoration, some problems may occur with international call connections due to congestion.

News Releases > 2007
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