China's internet connections almost fixed

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Internet services in China that were disrupted by an earthquake should be 100 percent operational by Jan. 15, officials said Sunday.

After a recent earthquake off the coast of Taiwan, several undersea cables were damaged and choppy waters have made repairing them difficult.

Some of the cables are trapped beneath the seabed as a result of the earthquake and officials told the Xinhua news agency they will need to add new cable. During the outage, China Telecom used landline cables and satellite communication to stay connected.

Communication within China is almost completely restored with 70 percent of overseas Internet links operational, Xinhua said.

Chinese officials said the country's North American link remains a problem spot but should be restored by Jan. 15.