Internet access breakdown still under investigation

Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau is analysing the recent Internet access breakdown of local telecom operator Companhia de Telecomunicaçōes de Macau (CTM), saying it may conduct administrative procedures against the operator if the latter is held responsible for the incident.
“If the investigation of [our] taskforce shows the operator is liable for the incident, we will initial administrative procedures [against the operator] based upon the administrative procedure code and related laws,” said the head of the Bureau’s division of market competition, Sio Weng Wengm, during radio show Macau Forum yesterday.
The official said the government department will request CTM to submit more details about the incident for its investigation.
“A working group will request CTM to provide further information and we will need to talk with the technicians who were on duty [during the incident] face-to-face in order to understand what happened,” he added.
Last Tuesday, a software malfunction left 30,000 users in the city without Internet access for almost four hours after an ‘an unusual surge of traffic’ led to the overload of two of the company’s Internet access servers, the company said last week.
According to the operator, a total of six servers are used for 170,000 online users, with the two affected being responsible for the Internet access of 55,000 users.
Speaking on the same radio show, CTM’s Vice President, Network Services, Declan Leong, apologised again on behalf of the company, claiming the company will not let the same event happen again, and it will co-operate with the government investigation.
Meanwhile, Vice President of Commercial, Ebel Cham, added CTM will review its mechanism for incident announcements, saying it will make more use of social media platforms to release related information in the future.