A week after the earthquake in Taiwan shattered undersea fibre optic data cables, I can say Ofta has given a "stellar" performance. Thank goodness Ofta has been more interested in promulgating policies to secure the profits of the tycoon backed telecoms in Hong Kong instead of securing Hong Kong's telecoms infrastructure.

Ofta took almost a full-day working day to react to the problems originally.

The original estimates for the internet outage for Hong Kong were for a short disruption of a week and then it started to slip. The next day it was "some of the undersea cables" instead of a return to full service.

The Director-General of Telecommunications, Au Man-ho, says he expects it will take between five and seven days to repair some of the undersea cables damaged by Tuesday's earthquake off Taiwan.

The 29th saw slippage with excuses.

The Office of the Telecomunications Authority - OFTA - says repair work on damaged undersea cables is likely to take longer than expected. It said several maintenance ships arrived south of Taiwan yesterday, but bad weather obstructed their survey and assessment work. OFTA said repair work was now expected to take longer than the original estimate of five to seven days - in particular as damage appears to be substantial.

The 30th brought more slippage.

OFTA said three repair ships are on their way to the scene to help two other vessels which arrived earlier. Repair work on one of the cables is expected to be completed by the ninth of January. Work on the others will be finished by the end of next month.

The 31st saw even more slippage and excuses.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority says most of the undersea cables damaged by Tuesday's earthquake in the Straits of Luzon will be fixed by the end of next month.

No longer will all repairs be finished by the end of next month, but now most of the undersea cables will be fixed by the end of January. Thankfully though for Ofta the new date allows them some breathing room to avoid having to put out more reports of slippage for at least a few weeks. In the meantime, they warn the Hong Kong public of a slow internet as the holidays end and business and schools return to full duty.