KT restoring phone, internet service after Saturday's fire
- 5 years ago
A fire on Saturday at a building in Seoul belonging to telecom company KT Corporation has been disrupting communications in the capital for the better part of two days now.
KT says it's repairing the damage and has promised to compensate its customers.
Yoon Jung-min has the latest.
On Saturday, a KT building in Seoul's Ahyeon neighborhood caught fire, paralyzing its mobile and internet networks in much of the capital.
The fire knocked out TV, mobile and internet service to potentially millions of KT subscribers in the Seoul area.
Many businesses have lost even the ability to process credit card transactions.
Police stations using its networks have also had problems with their internet and phone lines.
KT said on Sunday that it has restored 60 percent of services at mobile base stations and more than 70 percent of internet lines, though it will likely to take at least a week to get the system back to normal.
The company also launched an investigation into what caused the fire.
The mobile carrier formally apologized for the inconvenience and promised to compensate its customers.
CEO Hwang Chang-gyu said KT will carry out safety inspections on all network facilites in the country to prevent similar accidents.
Meanwhile, the country's ICT ministry and other relevant agencies held a meeting on Sunday to discuss ways to repair the damage and to support the people inconvenienced.
KT is one of the biggest communications providers in the country. It has been criticized for lacking fire-suppression systems like sprinklers.
There have also been concerns that the company's network system is too concentrated in one area, with some saying it should distribute the equipment to other areas to minimize the damage in case of fire.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.
KT says it's repairing the damage and has promised to compensate its customers.
Yoon Jung-min has the latest.
On Saturday, a KT building in Seoul's Ahyeon neighborhood caught fire, paralyzing its mobile and internet networks in much of the capital.
The fire knocked out TV, mobile and internet service to potentially millions of KT subscribers in the Seoul area.
Many businesses have lost even the ability to process credit card transactions.
Police stations using its networks have also had problems with their internet and phone lines.
KT said on Sunday that it has restored 60 percent of services at mobile base stations and more than 70 percent of internet lines, though it will likely to take at least a week to get the system back to normal.
The company also launched an investigation into what caused the fire.
The mobile carrier formally apologized for the inconvenience and promised to compensate its customers.
CEO Hwang Chang-gyu said KT will carry out safety inspections on all network facilites in the country to prevent similar accidents.
Meanwhile, the country's ICT ministry and other relevant agencies held a meeting on Sunday to discuss ways to repair the damage and to support the people inconvenienced.
KT is one of the biggest communications providers in the country. It has been criticized for lacking fire-suppression systems like sprinklers.
There have also been concerns that the company's network system is too concentrated in one area, with some saying it should distribute the equipment to other areas to minimize the damage in case of fire.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.