[kictanet] Sabotage suspected in Silicon Valley fiber outage

[Harry Hare]

Hello all,

I have noticed some of the optical fibre cable being buried around Nairobi
is less than 4 feet under, is there a standard depth that providers should
adhere to. Having the cable too shallow could give saboteurs something to do
and have serious ramifications on everything that depends on these
networks....Lets learn from stories like these ­ deep cables and secure
manholes, at least.

Harry
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sabotage suspected in Silicon Valley fiber outage
By Paul Boutin
The Industry Standard

SAN FRANCISCO (04/09/2009) - Forget Twitter downtime. This is serious:
Around 2 A.M. local time on Thursday, a fiber optic cable running ten feet
beneath a Silicon Valley roadway was damaged, possibly as deliberate
sabotage. A surprising number of services ranging from broadband Internet to
mobile phones, were knocked out. Repairs are still in progress, with no
schedule for completion.

The cable is owned by AT&T but leased to Verizon.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

It appears somebody opened a manhole in South San Jose, climbed down 8 to 10
feet and cut four or five fiber-optic cables.

The outage is affecting cell phones, land lines and Internet access for
Verizon customers in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin and Santa Cruz County.

"Verizon is completely down; other carriers are intermittent at best," said
a spokesman for Santa Clara County. There is no timetable for the service to
return.

Service is also affected in South San Jose around Monterey Road and Bailey
Avenue.

ATM machines may also be affected.

Police say they believe the line was deliberately cut, as were several other
cables in the area.

Why would someone sabotage a vital telecommunications link? The Merc alludes
to a union contract with AT&T that expired last weekend, but no formal
accusations have been made.

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