Authorities in Hong Kong have warned of Internet and email congestion when businesses reopen after the festive break as workers scramble to repair undersea cables hit by a quake last week. Repairs to the data cables will be completed progressively until the end of January, Hong Kong"s Office of the Telecommunications Authority said Monday. While many Internet links have been restored since the 7.1-magnitude quake off Taiwan"s coast last Tuesday, access remains slow in many areas.
Exacerbating the delay in getting services back to normal is a major fault on one of two repair ships despatched to the Luzon Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines to fix the cables. The ship had to be sent back to port for urgent repairs of its own and is expected to be out of action for a week. "As most businesses and schools (staff) will resume operations (Tuesday), Internet users visiting overseas websites may experience slow response or congestion," the Hong Kong authority said in a statement...