The snow disaster in southern and eastern China provinces has
caused losses of 1.1 billion yuan (about 152.8 million U.S.
dollars) to the telecommunications industry, according to
statistics released Saturday by the Ministry of Information
Industry.
By 6:00 pm on Friday, there were still some 10 million mobile
and fixed-line phone subscribers disrupted by the disaster, a
decrease of more than four million compared with three days ago,
the Ministry said.
It said that the industry has put in 580 million yuan to repair
damaged telecommunications facilities.
At present 24,000 base stations for mobile phone service are
being affected by power blackout, of which 14,000 are making shift
with diesel generators, while the remaining 10,000 are not in
service. As about fixed-line facilities, 150,000 poles have
collapsed and 16,000 kilometers of lines damaged.
The industry has dispatched 800,000 person times of emergency
teams to repair damaged facilities, it said.
The Ministry said that the overall situation is improving as
power supply and material transport gradually resumed, the number
of affected base stations is expected to drop steadily.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2008)