Cable Technology Feature Article
August 18, 2009
Another Cable Cut Across Pacific
By Gary Kim, Contributing Editor
A cable cut on the RNAL/FNAL network Aug. 17, 2009 has cut service for China Unicom (News - Alert) customers in China, particularly communications between users and servers in the United States, CommsDay International reports.
The affected RNAL route connects Taiwan to Korea, which carries traffic to Japan and onward to the United States. Users on PCCW’s (News - Alert) network were also affected, as PCCW owns part of the network.
FNAL/RNAL, formerly known as the "Tiger" system, was built by FLAG and Level 3. Reach (PCCW) purchased Level 3’s stake while FLAG was subsequently brought up by Reliance Globalcom.
The Microsoft (News - Alert) homepage, Yahoo US homepage and MSN.com were inaccessible to users in Hong Kong, CommsDay says. The outage ended at 6:00am China time on Aug. 18.
The latest disruption follows a massive, multi-cable outage starting about Aug. 12, 2009, as a result of suspected underwater landslides caused by typhoon Moraket.
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Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary’s articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Patrick Barnard
