The Office of the Telecommunications Authority has formed working groups with submarine cable operators and Internet service providers to form a new outage reporting mechanism to be launched in February.

The authority will urge operators to map out contingency plans, ensuring sufficient backup and effective diversity in emergencies. Guidelines or codes of practice may be considered if necessary.

It will also look into what should be done at the government or inter-government level to facilitate the acquisition of adequate backup capacity and route diversity under the operators' plans.

The first stage of the repair work of the damaged submarine cable systems is expected to be completed within the second half of this month, while the remaining work will finish by mid-February.