Thieves dampen Internet
Thursday, May 31, 2007
VIETNAMESE Internet users are suffering slower service after ocean-going thieves stole at least 11 kilometres of fibre-optic cable from the sea floor and sold it for scrap, Vietnamese telecommunications VTI said yesterday.
"The cable was cut and stolen in March of this year," said Lan Quoc Cuong, deputy director of VTI which partly owns the stolen cable. He said the scrap sellers have severed one of two undersea lines which provide some 82 per cent of Vietnam's telecommunications band width, including Internet and telephone service.
Authorities have not discovered who initially cut the cable. But last week, police in the southern coastal town of Vung Tau said they captured a boat carrying 60 tonnes of salvaged fiber-optic cable. A day ealier, they had arrested those on board three other boats carrying a total of 40 tonnes of salvaged cable. All four boats allegedly belonged to the same man, a Vung Tau resident.
Cuong said fixing the cable will take three months and costs US$2.6 million. Experts say that if its second undersea cable were cut, Vietnam would suffer severe restriction of its international telecommunications. DPA
"The cable was cut and stolen in March of this year," said Lan Quoc Cuong, deputy director of VTI which partly owns the stolen cable. He said the scrap sellers have severed one of two undersea lines which provide some 82 per cent of Vietnam's telecommunications band width, including Internet and telephone service.
Authorities have not discovered who initially cut the cable. But last week, police in the southern coastal town of Vung Tau said they captured a boat carrying 60 tonnes of salvaged fiber-optic cable. A day ealier, they had arrested those on board three other boats carrying a total of 40 tonnes of salvaged cable. All four boats allegedly belonged to the same man, a Vung Tau resident.
Cuong said fixing the cable will take three months and costs US$2.6 million. Experts say that if its second undersea cable were cut, Vietnam would suffer severe restriction of its international telecommunications. DPA
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