Telecom services in Sichuan and neighboring provinces disrupted by Monday's earthquake begin operating again yesterday, while networks in worst-hit Wenchuan and nearby counties remained cut off.

Nearly 1,990 out of the 4,457 disrupted base stations in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces were repaired yesterday, China Mobile, the county's largest mobile phone carrier, said.

One-third of the networks in the city of Dujiangyan, which lies between the quake epicenter of Wenchuan and Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, were also restored.

Similarly, cell phone operator China Unicom said in a statement yesterday that three-quarters of the company's disrupted networks in Gansu province resumed operations.

Zhu Lijun, vice-president of fixed-line operator China Netcom, told State broadcaster CCTV yesterday that most of the company's telecommunications systems in the Aba prefecture of Sichuan province, where Wenchuan is located, have resumed.

But telecommunications in Wenchuan and the neighboring four counties remained cut off as transportation networks were damaged by the quake, preventing engineers from entering affected regions.

"Roads in these areas were cut off by the earthquake, so we were blocked out and could not start working," he said.

Zhu said more time was needed for the broken fiber-optic cables, which carry long distant calls and Internet services, to be repaired, as workers needed to familiarize themselves with the topography of the area where the cables are buried.

No Internet disruptions were reported following the quake.

Rescue and relief work in the aftermath of the quake have been relying on hundreds of mobile satellite phones, which were provided by China Satellite Communications and the China Transportation and Telecommunication Center.

Wang Guoping, an analyst with securities firm China Galaxy Securities, said the earthquake will not significantly impact the business of Chinese telecom operators as their revenues from the region are limited.

There has been speculation of the Chinese government releasing its plan to restructure the country's telecom industry as early as Saturday.

But Wang said the earthquake reduced the possibility of such an announcement.

(China Daily May 14, 2008)