By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 1 January 2013:
As the country suffered its second telecommunications disruption in as many weeks, it has become . . .[restrict]clear that buried cables are under increasing threat from construction workers who are severing them by mistake.
Undersecretary at the Ministry of Communications, Mohammed Belras Ali has admitted that there is no shared database showing where and how deeply telephone cables are buried. Thus, he told the Libya Herald, the main east-west cable was cut by workmen three days ago near Beida. This came on top of a similar break in the line, this time at Zliten caused by a highway maintenance crew. On the same day, the underwater link between Khoms and Misrata was severed, apparently by weather conditions.
A senior source at LTT has said that if contractors are not prepared to liaise with his people on the location of cabling, especially broadband fibre optic next generation cabling, there was not a lot he could do. He said LTT had requested that all construction works be coordinated with the local LTT office, but this was rarely done. [/restrict]
