SLT's global Internet breakdown.
Rohan Wickremasinghe
Sri Lanka Telecom's international Internet connectivity was affected
due to damage caused to one of its international cable systems near
Mount Lavinia recently. So many people were affected due to this and
loss to the National economy of Sri Lanka is considerable.
The damage is huge since SLT was not able to offer a remedial measure
within a short period. Due to this many people in Sri Lanka were unable
to access Internet for several days.
This clearly could be an indication of lack of required management and
engineering capabilities on behalf of the SLT. SLT should have
considered linking their server in Colombo through a satellite circuit
to the global Internet server. At least till cable system was repaired
this should have been implemented. This is what all of, Sri Lankans
expect from our national telecom operator. Thousands of clients who had
ADSL lines and leased lines to access SLT Internet were badly affected
as their businesses at its entirety depended on fast 24 hour
accessibility to Internet. These firms may now find difficult to pay
their salaries, and other monthly payments and expenses.
SLT should give a full waiver of the monthly payments due on ADSL, and
especially leased lines connectivity for at least two months in order
to help them to recover. An investigation should be done to find out
as to why SLT failed to offer an alternative connectivity to global
Internet during this period.