Telecoms Services Still Operational After Chile Earthquake
Telecoms services were not badly affected by the earthquake that rocked the northern part of Chile on Wednesday and measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, the country's telecoms regulator Subtel said in a statement.
However, Subtel's head Pablo Bello called on users to limit the number and length of calls.
"What we have right now is a situation of very high demand with everybody phoning at once, surpassing the natural capacity of the networks to channel that demand and causing congestion," Bello said.
Bello clarified that networks in the country's region I were operating as normal but running on alternative energy sources, though in some small municipalities service was down.
Antofagasta, in region II, was also hit hard by the earthquake that left two dead and 15,000 homeless.
In August, Peru experienced a telecoms blackout after an earthquake hit the south of the country.
Posted to the site on 16th November 2007
