The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/28/pakistan_cable/

Severed undersea cable cuts off Pakistan

Kiwi water rats to blame?

By Tim Richardson

Posted in Telecoms, 28th June 2005 15:16 GMT

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Telecoms, data and internet services have gone titsup in Pakistan after an undersea cable developed a fault.

The cable appears to have been severed some 35km (20m) off the Karachi coast leaving the country effectively cut off.

And there are fears it could be up to two weeks before a ship capable of repairing the damage can make its way to the scene.

The cable - which links Pakistan to the rest of the world - fell over late yesterday and remained down on Tuesday, reports the Beeb.

The cable is jointly owned by 92 countries and is operated by Singapore telco SingTel.

Last week some 200,000 punters in Norway were unable to use their mobile phones after "human error" caused their service to go titsup.

Meanwhile, rats have been blamed for crippling New Zealand's telecoms network last week as well leaving thousands of punters without phone or internet access. ®

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