Cat Telecom Union Postpones Cutting Overseas Circuit Until Thursday

[george]

CAT Telecom union postpones cutting overseas circuit until Thursday

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's CAT Telecom labour union which earlier planned to cut the country international circuit telecommunications gateway Wednesday afternoon in support of the demonstrators demanding for the ouster of the coalition government has postponed the decision until 9am Thursday.

The CAT Telecom labour union had said it would make a decision Wednesday afternoon whether or not to cut the international circuit telecommunication or gateway. Disconnecting the gateway would affect access to the Internet and international telephone services as well as financial transactions.

Speaking to TNA, Somboon Sapsarn, president of the CAT Telecom labour union, said union members had decided to postpone the decision.

Although a full work stoppage at CAT Telecom has not begun, about 40 per cent of the agency's 5,600 employees nationwide already took a day off on Wednesday. It is expected that more would join on Thursday.

The firm's operations on Wednesday did not disrupt its services to the public because most of those who were absent were in administration.

Meanwhile, CAT deputy managing director Marut Buranasettakul told TNA that the company's labour union had no authority to cut the international circuit telecommunication gateway.

Only senior executives of the company could do it, said Mr. Marut, adding that services at the company continued normally as of now. Representatives of the labour union were invited for talks with senior executives and were told that work disruption would greatly affect public users, said Mr. Marut.

-- TNA 2008-09-03

[Phil Conners]

I read somewhere that the discontinuation of Internet services in any western country would cause that country's economy to collapse within 48 hours. I wonder how long it would take to cause Thailands economy to collapse.

[The Mask]

I read somewhere that the discontinuation of Internet services in any western country would cause that country's economy to collapse within 48 hours. I wonder how long it would take to cause Thailands economy to collapse.

About 30 seconds

[Chang_paarp]

I read somewhere that the discontinuation of Internet services in any western country would cause that country's economy to collapse within 48 hours. I wonder how long it would take to cause Thailands economy to collapse.

Given the high quality service levels, would anyone notice for a few days?

[wintermute]

Well, if the baht goes down the toilet I expect that will be compensation enough for enduring this nonsense.

[RigPig]

Yeah I'm paid in US $ a nose dive in the Baht would suit me, it's been too high too long anyway!

[Spee]

I read somewhere that the discontinuation of Internet services in any western country would cause that country's economy to collapse within 48 hours.

I don't know where you may have read this, but it is pretty nonsensical.

There might be disruptions, of which the most recent catastrophic type would have been nine-eleven. But a discontinuation is all but impossible, given that the networks are heavily meshed (i.e., alternate paths) and built of highly redundant, high availabilty technology. It is common practice for these kinds of businesses to have multiple voice and internet access points with more than one provider.

The only way someone might have any sort of chance of doing this would be simultaneous attacks on all major undersea fiber routes. But these are heavily guarded, if not inaccessible. Even if this were to occur, mission critical traffic would still be routed through other redundant system. There might be a lot of outages, packet loss, latency, etc.

In any case, the economy wouldn't collapse because of it, and certainly not within 48 hours.

I wonder how long it would take to cause Thailands economy to collapse.

If there is indeed only a single internet and telephony gateway for the entire country, via CAT, this would appear to be a very serious problem (aka single point failure). Fortunately, the problem could easily be alleviated by opening up the market to more suppliers.

Although I don't really want to see something like this happen, such threats do little more than cause further exposure of the country's greedy, power-drunk central leadership and antiquated ways of doing business.

There is no reason for a country with 65 million plus people to allow a monopoly. It only serves the greedy, power-brokers. When are people going to realize that economic competition is healthy and that it benefits everyone. There is plenty of feed in the trough.

[Seizhin]

Internet cut off, dead Thailand.

Serious crime, but again, no law exist in this land called Thailand.

[WAERTH]

I do not think this will happen. That would wipe any credibility Thailand has left. I think even the CAT employees understand this.

Waerth

[rainman]

If they're the same employees that tell you to restart your computer when your PPPoE is rejecting your password, don't count on it.

I work with Forex and if the internet goes down I'm on the next plane to Singapore or Malaysia.

Edited September 3, 2008 by rainman

[tropo]

I read somewhere that the discontinuation of Internet services in any western country would cause that country's economy to collapse within 48 hours.

I don't know where you may have read this, but it is pretty nonsensical.

You totally misunderstood the statement.

The statement was made that if Internet services were discontinued (in a Western country) the economy would soon callapse. I believe this would be true.

You're arguing whether or not it is possible to cut off the Internet services of a western country. That's a different matter entirely.

[Spee]

The statement was made that if Internet services were discontinued (in a Western country) the economy would soon callapse. I believe this would be true.

I understood the claim perfectly. It is nonsensical. I could write paragraphs and pages to explain why, but what's the point? To make such a claim is only indicative of how far out of the depths of understanding you seem to be. Ignorance is bliss, as some people say.

[robee]

The statement was made that if Internet services were discontinued (in a Western country) the economy would soon callapse. I believe this would be true.

I understood the claim perfectly. It is nonsensical. I could write paragraphs and pages to explain why, but what's the point? To make such a claim is only indicative of how far out of the depths of understanding you seem to be. Ignorance is bliss, as some people say.

Thai economy would be affected somewhat, how much is my question? May find out soon.

[lostagain]

PAD should reconsider this stategy. They want internationsal pressure on the government. Most of the information coming out of Thailand is via the Internet. If they cut that they are going to loose a lot of coverage they are getting.

[robee]

The statement was made that if Internet services were discontinued (in a Western country) the economy would soon callapse. I believe this would be true.

I understood the claim perfectly. It is nonsensical. I could write paragraphs and pages to explain why, but what's the point? To make such a claim is only indicative of how far out of the depths of understanding you seem to be. Ignorance is bliss, as some people say.

re. Quote I believe the imapact on western econmy would b different than on Thai econmy. Interested in speculation on what may happen today in bkk and up country.

[Spee]

The statement was made that if Internet services were discontinued (in a Western country) the economy would soon callapse. I believe this would be true.

I understood the claim perfectly. It is nonsensical. I could write paragraphs and pages to explain why, but what's the point? To make such a claim is only indicative of how far out of the depths of understanding you seem to be. Ignorance is bliss, as some people say.

Thai economy would be affected somewhat, how much is my question? May find out soon.

Up country, I doubt there would be any impact at all. There is very little e-commerce taking place. Now if telephony services were also disrupted as well, there might be some disruption. But outside of the larger cities, these are conveniences rather than necessities.

In the larger cities there would likely be some serious impact. It depends on the level of the disruption and which services incur outages. I doubt that corporate businesses would stand for this. They would take CAT to court in a heartbeat and CAT would not have a leg to stand on.

In short, little if any disruption in the rural areas. In the big cities like Bkk, a CAT service disruption would cause significant disruption, but the net result would be CAT having a "tiger by the tail" so to speak.

You have to understand that a national service outage threat can be a very serious matter. There are business contracts in place and businesses depend upon those contracts to be honored in order to facilitate their operations. CAT would be extremely liable in a court of law for pre-meditated, intentional, service disruptions. Also, this would be further evidence of the need to break up the monopoly and allow free market practices to be applied to the telephony and internet services markets.

In short, this is a dog with bark, but no bite.

[endure]

You have to understand that a national service outage threat can be a very serious matter. There are business contracts in place and businesses depend upon those contracts to be honored in order to facilitate their operations. CAT would be extremely liable in a court of law for pre-meditated, intentional, service disruptions. Also, this would be further evidence of the need to break up the monopoly and allow free market practices to be applied to the telephony and internet services markets.

This isn't the USA. 'Free market practices' run a poor second to family interests.

[WAERTH]

Like I said earlier, they would not go through with this. To many things at stake.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/040908_Business...p2008_biz32.php

CAT union backs down

The CAT Telecom union has called off its threat to disconnect the international gateway and suspend international direct dialling, fearing it would paralyse telecommunication services and put businesses with overseas links in chaos.

Such drastic action would be the last resort if the prime minister remained stubborn and did not step down, union leader Somboon Sarpsarn said yesterday.

[LuckyFive8888]

I read somewhere that the discontinuation of Internet services in any western country would cause that country's economy to collapse within 48 hours. I wonder how long it would take to cause Thailands economy to collapse.

already on the verge...

[Murgatroyd]

The Thai telecomunications unions have stated that they may cut off international communications in sympathy with the current protests.

If that happens the internet functions may well go down in Thailand.

It is also a possibility that communications with banks outside thailand may be affected.

If that happens, ATM use and the use of plastic to pay at the till point may be disrupted for Ex-pats and visitors.

As a precautionary measure, I will be drawing the maximum cash I can from an ATM this morning.

Other people who depend on their home bank accounts may consider doing likewise.

This may not happen... but it is a remote possibility.

[wintermute]

I don't want to sound like a paranoid nut but this almost seems like a trial run for a real dictatorship some day. Shutting off all electric, internet, media, etc.. and then installing a dominant authority by force. You know the PAD is doing this now but in the future some other people may get the bright idea to do the same thing except with guns.

[LuckyFive8888]

The Thai telecomunications unions have stated that they may cut off international communications in sympathy with the current protests.

If that happens the internet functions may well go down in Thailand.

It is also a possibility that communications with banks outside thailand may be affected.

If that happens, ATM use and the use of plastic to pay at the till point may be disrupted for Ex-pats and visitors.

As a precautionary measure, I will be drawing the maximum cash I can from an ATM this morning.

Other people who depend on their home bank accounts may consider doing likewise.

This may not happen... but it is a remote possibility.

don't think about expats but the thais overseas who have their visa cards and ATM cards from thailand.

[Scott]

But wouldn't that solve the problem of all those kids playing all those horrible computer games? Wouldn't it also solve the problem of having to block all those (400 I read the other day) web sites that contain anti anything-about-thailand information!?

[Spee]

You have to understand that a national service outage threat can be a very serious matter. There are business contracts in place and businesses depend upon those contracts to be honored in order to facilitate their operations. CAT would be extremely liable in a court of law for pre-meditated, intentional, service disruptions. Also, this would be further evidence of the need to break up the monopoly and allow free market practices to be applied to the telephony and internet services markets.

This isn't the USA. 'Free market practices' run a poor second to family interests.

Yes of course, in Thailand they do.

If I were a business executive in Thailand and dependent upon CAT for running my business, a threat to suspend service is the same as an actual suspension because both put my business at extreme risk. If someone is capable of making a public threat, then someone is capable of pulling the plug.

If I were a business executive in Thailand, I would be looking for two things. First, I would be looking for a new country in which to locate and run my business. Second, to change my mind from #1, I would need assurances from the CAT chief exec and board, the leaders of the major political parties, the leaders of the military, and also the monarchy that suspension of telecommunications services is a matter of national security because of its essential relationship to the business economy.

So I'll say it again. The stability of the telecommunications infrastructure in a developed nation like the US or a developing nation like Thailand, is a matter of national security. When someone threatens to suspend telecommunications service, then they threaten national security and they should be dealt with accordingly. Someone needs to be held accountable.

When someone makes threats like this, they bring Thailand down to the same level as the Myanmar junta. One of their immediate responses to the massive international response to Cyclone Nargis was to threaten to suspend the telecommunications system, albeit most likely for different reasons than CAT. But the end result is the same.

[Phil Conners]

The statement was made that if Internet services were discontinued (in a Western country) the economy would soon callapse. I believe this would be true.

I understood the claim perfectly. It is nonsensical. I could write paragraphs and pages to explain why, but what's the point? To make such a claim is only indicative of how far out of the depths of understanding you seem to be. Ignorance is bliss, as some people say.

Actually the statement was made by ICANN a couple of years ago so it's probably more true now than ever. I think, sir, you are the one who is out of your depth.

[Wolfie]

Well its almost 10am Thursday and the interweb works as normal.... all hype and bullsh*t

[Spee]

The statement was made that if Internet services were discontinued (in a Western country) the economy would soon callapse. I believe this would be true.

I understood the claim perfectly. It is nonsensical. I could write paragraphs and pages to explain why, but what's the point? To make such a claim is only indicative of how far out of the depths of understanding you seem to be. Ignorance is bliss, as some people say.

Actually the statement was made by ICANN a couple of years ago so it's probably more true now than ever.

It is a statement of opinion, not a statement of fact. Can you provide of source of who's opinion you are paraphrasing?

[Murgatroyd]

CAT union backs down

KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

The CAT Telecom union has called off its threat to disconnect the international gateway and suspend international direct dialling, fearing it would paralyse telecommunication services and put businesses with overseas links in chaos.

Such drastic action would be the last resort if the prime minister remained stubborn and did not step down, union leader Somboon Sarpsarn said yesterday.

He said the union had a total of 10 steps in mind to pressure the government and cutting off international communications was the last one. As of yesterday, he said, members were at only the second step in their anti-government activity.

He said the union and the State Enterprise Relations Confederation would monitor developments and believed Premier Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet might step down before the union executed the 10th step.

He said that 30% of CAT Telecom staff took leave yesterday but all services were still functioning automatically.

However, if the people in charge of the control systems took leave together, then services would be crippled instantly, he said, adding that all staff were entitled to two weeks' leave under the law.

Bangkok Post 04/09/08

[geriatrickid]

Businesses with oversea links = Many PAD supporters

Don't want to upset the PAD puppet masters now do they?

[joncl]

Businesses with oversea links = Many PAD supporters

Don't want to upset the PAD puppet masters now do they?

Not least one of the PAD leaders who streams his TV channels to HK and Singapore for is ASTV network on the NSS6 satellite. If CAT shut down the international links, so does the PAD TV channels shut down.