China's Telcos Lose $153 Million to Snow Storms

The ongoing snow storms in Southern and Eastern China have caused losses of US$153 million to the telecoms industry, according to statistics from by the Ministry of Information Industry. The ministry said that as of last Friday evening, there were still some 10 million mobile and landline subscribers unable to make phone calls - a sharp rise on the 4 million affected at the beginning of the week.

Currently, some 24,000 mobile base stations have been affected by the rolling power cuts which have affected the country. Around 14,000 are managing to operate sporadically with on-site power generators, but at least 10,000 have been shut-down.

The industry has allocated around US$70 million to repair damaged infrastructure, and the ministry says that the industry has deployed some 800,000 staff to deal with the crisis.

The Central China State Grid has mobilized 100,000 workers to fix 39 major power transmission lines to try and restore power supply in central China.

Posted to the site on 10th February 2008