Crashed Telecom link hits firms' data flows

By PAUL YANDALL

Thousands of Telecom Internet and business customers faced blank computer screens and hefty revenue losses yesterday after a fault severed a vital data link in Auckland.

Telecom data transmission and Internet connections across the country were cut at 11.30 pm on Sunday by a fault at the company's Mayoral Drive exchange.

The fault cut services to the company's business customers, who could not send data along Telecom's network either via the Internet or through their inhouse networks. Telephone and fax services were not interrupted.

Telecom spokesman Glen Sowry said the fault was caused by the failure of a relay circuit that was responsible for maintaining high-volume data transmissions around the country.

Telecom's Xtra Internet service was not affected by the fault.

Although Mr Sowry said only 100 of Telecom's business customers were affected, that number does not include all the customers they provide data services to.

He said technicians were having trouble locating the fault and did not know when full services would be available again.

"An awful lot of effort is going into finding the fault - we know what it is, we're just trying to locate it at the moment."

Other sources within Telecom told the Herald that closer to 1700 business customers had lost services and at least another 1700 businesses had had their networks disrupted. Those sources blamed poor maintenance for the fault.

Advertising and publishing companies missed out on thousands of dollars in revenue as the flow of data from around the country vital for their businesses slowed to a relative trickle.

Internet service providers using the Telecom network were also affected, with one of the country's largest ISPs, Voyager NZ, down from 11.30 pm on Sunday to 7 last night because of the fault.

It is understood that World-Net and Ihug also had problems.

The fault is believed to have severed one of the four Telecom data links within Auckland.

Telecom technicians were working around the clock last night trying to restore the severed connections by loading them onto the other three links.