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Japan Telecom Recovery - DoCoMo published service recovery map, 3/22

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NTT DoCoMo has published a detailed map that shows their service status of Tohoku area.  As their usual way, it is TOO detailed and a bit hard to understand because of it, but basically, grey shows the no service area, and blue is the temporary service area with mobile cell sites. DoCoMo service recovery map, 3/22

According to the chart below, current unfunctional cell site number is down to approximately 600-700 in Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures.

DoCoMo recovery chart

Source:  DoCoMo press release 3/22

Michi

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Japan Telecom Recovery - Power shortage a big headache for tech industry, 3/22

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This morning, my Twitter time line was filled with a rumor that Google Japan is fleeing Tokyo and moving to Osaka.  It turned out to be a false rumor, but they say it is true that some employees are temporarily moved to the Western part of Japan. That is credible, as I am hearing similar reports from my friends in Japanese tech industry, and it is NOT because of the fear of radiation, but is because of power shortage.

According to Nikkei Newspaper 3/19, TEPCO, the power utility in Tokyo and its vicinity, is trying very hard to recover its generator capacity but the output is still expected to remain much lower than demand.

Here's the math.

Capacity:

TEPCO's capacity before the quake:  63 mil. kw

-> Current capacity after the quake:  34 mil. kw

-> Expected capacity as of End April:  42 mil. kw

Damaged plants

  • Fukushima Nuke Plant capacity:  9 mil. kw -> no hope to recover
  • Higashi-Ogishima power plant (Kawasaki, Kanagawa):  2 mil. kw -> expected to recover by end April
  • Kashima power plant (Kashima, Igaragi):  4 mil. kw -> expected to recover by end April
  • Hirono power plant (Hirono, Fukushima) and Hitachinaka (Tokai, Ibaragi) -> will take longer to recover

(TEPCO is planning to increase the operation in other working power plants as well.)

Demand:

Normal demand in winter:  50 mil. kw

Normal demand in summer:  60 mil. kw

This is why rolling blackout is in place right now.  23 wards in Tokyo, the city center, are not currently included in rolling blackout plan, but majority of people are commuting from suburbs.  Trains do not run as scheduled, no elevators run in high-rise, and even in unaffected area, businesses are restraining by turning off neon signs, dimming lights and shortening factory operations.

I am hearing that data centers in Eastern Japan are largely unaffected and are running perfectly fine.  Howerver, due to this power shortage situation, employees are having hard time to come to work and their productivity is low.

Some people are also saying that it is for the "national cause" to diversify the industry locations to avoid power crisis in Tokyo.  Unlike physical factories, IT workers are relatively flexible in terms of work locations. Local governments in Western Japan are gearing up to accommodate such demand.  Not just Osaka, the second largest city in Japan, but also Kyoto has a nice cluster of tech companies, as well as Fukuoka.  It may be actually a good chance to crack the problem of too much concentration in Tokyo, IMHO.

Michi

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Japan Telecom Recovery - KDDI recovery status, 3/21

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As Light Reading says KDDI is not saying anything (in English, probably), here is my translation from their Japanese press release as of 3/21. <au mobile>

No service restrictions are in place

There are non-working cell sites in the following prefectures: Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, Fukushima, Yamagata, Niigata, Ibaragi, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa

As of 3/18, non-working cell sites number is down to 620.  (Source:  @KDDIPR Twitter)

Mobile cell sites are deployed in the following locations:

  • Ofunato City Hall (Ofunato, Iwate)
  • Otsuchi High School (Otsuchi, Iwate)
  • Yamada High School (Yamada, Iwate)
  • Sun Village Takada (Rikuzen-Takada, Iwate)
  • Sizugawa Junior High School (Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi)
  • Onagawa Sports Park (Kesennuma, Miyagi)
  • In addition to those, 20 mobile power charger vehicle are deployed in various locations.

<Fixed Lines>

No service restrictions are in place.

Some services are not available in some parts of the affacted area due to physical damage to the circuits:

  • Fixed and Internet Service such as au one net, IP−VPN, WVS, Ether−VPN
  • au Hikari, Hikari Direct in parts of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures
  • Metal Plus in parts of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures

<International>

Some international circuits are down, but it is probably not because of the Tohoku earthquake, but is  due to a separate earthquake in Taiwan.

  • International Dedicated Lines to Australia and the U.S.
  • International IP-VPN to Australia and the U.S.
  • International value-added service:  Alasca, Bermuda, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, the U.S., US Virgin Islands, Venezuela

<Emergency deployment>

Following phones are in place to support emergency workers

au mobile phones:  727

Satellite phones (Iridium and Inmarsat) :  38

Others:  Portable power generators, cell phone cahrgers, power source cable tap etc.

Source:  KDDI Press Release, 3/21

Michi

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Japan Telecom Recovery - Light Reading reports about NTT, 3/18

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A week after the earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan, NTT Group (NYSE: NTT) is still battling to restore domestic fixed and mobile lines to its customers in the affected areas.

via www.lightreading.com

NTT seems to have informed to foreign press about their damage and recovery. Softbank is lightly mentioned, and KDDI apparently has not informed them in English. Please do so quickly, KDDI!!

Michi

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Japan Telecom Recovery - "Hack for Japan" being held, 3/19-21

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To gather the idea and knowledge of Japanese Web people to come up with better solutions for Japan's current crisis, several major Japanese Web/Net players got together and organized "Hack for Japan" event.  It is currently under way, 3/19-21. Participating companies provide hosting/cloud service, technical help and other resources, and participants can use any open software, including various Web APIs, Android/iPhone, Windows/Mac and so on.  It is open to any developers for free.

As Tokyo/Tohoku area logistics is too hard to maneuver, the event is basicaly held online on Google Wave and Google Moderator, but there are several physical venues in Western Japan.

Participating Companies:

Google Japan, Rakuten, Yahoo! JAPAN, Microsoft Japan, Twitter, Amazon Web Services, Salesforce Japan, OpenStreetMap、Hatena、Mixi、Evernote Corporation, Cloudant Inc., Sakura Internet, Tonchi Dot

Venues:

Kyoto Research Park (capacity: 100), Fukuoka AiP Cafe (20), Okayama Libra Hall (30), Tokukshima Tsukimigaoka Beach Park (capacity unknown)

For further information, please visit the following offical Webpage.

Hack for Japan Website

Twitter Hashtag: #hack4jp

Source:  Hack For Japan announcement page

Michi

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Japan Telecom Recovery - NTT's emergency vehicle lineup, 3/20

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As a mother of 2 young boys, I have seen so many "work vehicles" videos with them, and I have realized how much that experience influenced my mind these days.  Every time big vehicles like "Hyper Rescue Special Fire Truck" come out, I cannot help but get excited. So here is a little share of "big work vehicles" in telecom industry.

NTT Public Relations was kind enough to share photos of the emergency vehicles, utilized by NTT East (local carrier) and NTT DoCoMo after the earthquake.

<DoCoMo Mobile Cell Site>

Mobile cell site 1

Mobile cell site 2

<NTT Mobile power source>

Power Source

<NTT Satellite Public Phone>

Satellite public phone

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Japan Telecom Recovery - DoCoMo mobile cell site area map, 3/19

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DoCoMo has published area maps of mobile cell site coverage.  These are all the coverage areas where mobile communication is made possible by DoCoMo mobile base stations (cell site on truck). Kamaishi-shi, Iwate

Kesennuma-shi, Miyagi

Minami-Sanriku-shi, Miyagi

Otsuchi-shi, Iwate

Higashi-Matsushima-shi, Miyagi

Rikuzen-Takada-shi, Iwate

Maps are only in Japanese.

Source:  DoCoMo press release, 3/19

Michi