ITCOW [L]

From
Here.

IF YOU are a StarHub MaxOnline broadband Internet user who has had difficulty
surfing the World Wide Web since Thursday morning, the answer lies deep beneath
the sea.

StarHub’s corporate communications manager Eric Loh said: “Our round-the-clock
Network Management Centre had detected some international network problems that
morning.

“Investigations found that a third party submarine cable between Singapore and
the Philippines had been accidentally cut, resulting in some of our MaxOnline —
and other regional operators’ — customers facing slow access to international
websites.”

However, Internet access to locally-hosted sites have not been affected.

All other StarHub services including mobile, IDD, digital cable and fixed
network services are also functioning normally.

While StarHub was unable to provide a timeframe for the complete restoration of
MaxOnline access, Mr Loh said StarHub engineers are “working round-the-clock to
rectify the matter as soon as possible”.

“It takes time to re-route Internet traffic as it involves multiple parties,” said Mr Loh.

Some of the Internet traffic had already been re-routed to other cables
yesterday, rectifying the slow access to international websites.

StarHub could not ascertain the number of customers affected by the cable cut
but assures customers that this is a “rare occurrence” that they are striving to
resolve. — Tor Ching Li