Fishermen who were allowed to take unused war-era undersea copper cables have gone too far, "salvaging" fibre-optic lines providing some of Vietnam's Internet and other international communications.
A Ministry of Posts and Telematics report seen on Thursday urged authorities in central and southern regions to prevent the theft of cable, whose loss underdeveloped Vietnam can ill afford.

"The general assessment is that most fishermen, and in some cases even the local authorities, had a very simple understanding of the consequences of the theft of under-sea fibre optic cable," the report on a May 31 to June 5 investigation said.

State-run newspapers said an 11-km (7-mile) section of stolen TVH fibre-optic cable would be replaced at a cost of $5.8 million. It was part of the line that transmits data from Vietnam to Thailand and Hong Kong.

In all, about 43 km (27 miles) of fibre-optic cable is missing, including about 32 km (20 miles) stolen from a cable operated by a Singaporean company.
"Now just one undersea cable connects Vietnam with the outside world," Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said.

The theft began after the government in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau last year allowed fishermen and soldiers to salvage undersea copper cable laid before 1975 to sell as scrap.
The Vietnam war in which the United States backed a South Vietnam government, ended in April 1975 when communist North Vietnam troops captured Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City.

The permission to salvage the cable has been withdrawn, the ministry has asked the Coast Guard to increase patrols and inspections and officials have started a public relations campaign to educate fishermen about the importance of the cables.

More and more people use Internet-based telephony instead of traditional fixed landlines in Sweden, the National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) said Thursday. In its annual report on the Swedish telecoms market, the government watchdog that keeps an eye on market conditions said there were 410,000 IP telephone subscribers at the end of 2006, up 87 per cent on the 219,500 registered in 2005.

A majority of 392,000 were owned by private households. In comparison there were 5.5 million fixed landline subscriptions at the end of 2006, a 1-per-cent drop on 2005. The value for fixed-line calls was estimated to be worth 19.5 billion kronor (2.8 billion dollars), down 11 per cent on 2005.

More people are also making their calls via mobile phones compared with fixed landlines, PTS said. The market for mobile phone subscriptions was pretty saturated with 9.6 million subscriptions at the end of 2006 compared to 9.1 million in 2005.

The number of private-owned mobile phone subscriptions was 7.7 million, or 80 per cent of the market. As of March this year, Sweden had 9.1 million inhabitants according to Statistics Sweden. Another increase PTS noted was the number of broadband connections, especially with higher capacity. Telia Sonera remained the largest mobile phone operator with about 42 per cent of the market. dpa lsm gma

Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) has elected Mr. Ndukwe Kanu, Managing director, Amsco telecom as the first president of Association. At the annual general meeting of the body held in Lagos after the registration of the agency, Kanu defeated Mr. Sunday Afolayan to become the president.
Also elected were Mr. Vincent Akime as secretary, Mrs. Mercy Uduma of Nigerian Communications Commission was elected Vice President while Abimbola Olayinka emerged as the Treasurer.

Six executive members were elected as well; they include Mr. Biyi Oladipo, Mrs. Ufoma Dairo, Sunday Afolayan, Mrs. Yetunde Johnson, Mr. Shehu Mohammed and Mr. Tope Fashadimi.
Earlier, Dr Adeola Odeyemi, chairman, Board of Trustee of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), said about 2,000 domain names have been registered under the country's domain name of .ng, adding that the Annual General Meeting was a remarkable achievement by the board having moved the association from its crisis incubated period of seven years to its legal registration with Corporate Affairs Commission in February this year and election of executive members that will pioneer affairs of the association.

He noted that some clauses smuggled into the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) bill, which strip the association of its independence is contrary to what Prsident Obansanjo said that led to the formation of Nira, has not been removed because the stage at which it is in the senate, no amendment could be effected. He tasked the new executive to ensure that the required legislative procedure is followed to remove the clause.

Mr. Ndukwe Kanu, commenting on his victory promised to bring all members of Nira together for progress, adding that presently, most of the 2,000 domain names of .ng are using it as sub-domain name, which he intend to correct through making .ng a brand that those who host it would be proud of.
“It is not enough to have one million website, but the value of those website. To this end, I will push for local content development which will help to create job opportunities for young Nigerians,” he said.