WCA July 2009

Statue of Liberty Image from BigStockPhoto.com Photographer: Marty

substantial reductions on health care costs, among other concessions. The talks were being held with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) concerning a new contract covering more than 80,000 employees, who had been working under their old deal since its expiration some four days before the attacks. There was no suggestion that the talks were linked to the sabotage, and the contract negotiations were not suspended. “I can state that CWA members have nothing to do with this at all,” said Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the CWA. “There is an investigation going on, and we’ll fully cooperate. But our members are working. They’re on the job.” Rapidly increasing its lending in Latin America, China does well by doing good “This is how the balance of power shifts quietly during times of crisis,” David Rothkopf, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration told the New York Times . “The loans are an example of the checkbook power in the world moving to new places, with the Chinese becoming more active.” The reference was to the large amounts of money being offered by China to countries across Latin America at the same time that President Barack Obama is mounting an effort to rebuild frayed US relationships with countries in the region. Another Times respondent – Dante Sica, the lead economist at Abeceb, a consulting firm in Argentina – said the Chinese overtures in the region were made possible by the “lack of attention that the United States showed to Latin America during the entire Bush administration.” As reported by the Times ’ Simon Romero and Alexei Barrionuevo, in the weeks leading up to Mr Obama’s first visit to the populous region to the south, China was negotiating deals to double a development fund in Venezuela to $12 billion; lend Ecuador at least $1 billion to build a hydroelectric plant; provide Argentina with access to more than $10 billion in Chinese currency; and lend $10 billion to Brazil’s national oil company. (“Deals Help China Expand Sway in Latin America,” 16 th April) Mr Obama would meet with Latin American leaders to discuss economic matters, including a plan to replenish the coffers of the Inter-American Development Bank established in Washington in 1959 to support Latin American and Caribbean development. But the US president will need to move fast if he is to blunt the edge of China’s thrust into the region. Chinese trade with Latin America has grown quickly in this decade, making China the region’s second largest trading partner after the United States. And the recent loan activity suggests a deepening engagement. For its part, China hopes to ensure its access to natural resources, mainly oil, for years to come. The Times reporters note that a single loan planned by China, the $10 billion for Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras, almost matches the total $11.2 billion in financing approved The US and China

Telecom

A rare but devastating attack in Silicon Valley highlights the vulnerability of fibre optic lines Deliberate interference with fibre optic communications in the US comes most often by way of cybercrime; less often from mishaps with earth-moving machinery, particularly backhoes; seldom from sabotage. In April, however, one or more saboteurs deliberately severed fibre optic cables in California’s Silicon Valley – the major high-tech hub of the country. The attacks cut off landline, cell phone, and Internet service for tens of thousands of people in three counties. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle , in the predawn hours of 9 th April ten fibre optic cables were cut at four locations. More than 50,000 landline customers – residential and business – lost service for up to 24 hours. While the full effects could not be known immediately, Liz Kniss, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, told the Chronicle that no “major catastrophic emergency” had resulted from the assault. Although definitely ascribed to malicious intent, it was held by authorities to be unrelated to terrorism. (“Sabotage Attacks Knock Out Phone Service,” 10 th April) Most of the disruption derived from the first attack, shortly before 1:30am, in San Jose – “the capital of Silicon Valley” – on four cables belonging to AT&T Inc. Four more underground cables, at least two of them the property of AT&T, were cut about two hours later at two locations in San Carlos. An additional two lines were sliced in south San Jose. In total, at least 500 fibre optic strands were cut, each requiring hours of painstaking work to be spliced back together. The gravity of the episode was evident from the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Phone company managers and police were joined promptly by FBI agents in an aggressive search for the perpetrators. Potential penalties include criminal charges of vandalism, heavy restitution charges, and more severe consequences if any injuries or fatalities are traced to the destruction. A sense of outrage was prevalent in the cradle of the American semiconductor industry. So was a grim deter- mination to identify and punish the saboteurs. Rob Davis, the police chief of San Jose, told the Chronicle , “I pity the individuals who have done this.” AT&T immediately posted a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the perpetrators, but quickly raised it to $250,000 “as the full scope of the vandalism became more clear.” AT&T customers were not the only ones affected by the outage. Among those without service were subscribers of Verizon, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint wireless, which rely on AT&T to carry their phone traffic back to their networks. Cell phone customers at T-Mobile and AboveNet also lost service. The cutting of the fibre optic lines occurred as AT&T was ❖ ❖ in negotiations with employees of its landline business, which maintains the fibre-optic cables, and was seeking

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2009