Half Of Ecuador Phones Seen At Risk To Y2K Problem

Updated 6:50 PM ET September 7, 1999

QUITO (Reuters) - Half of Ecuador's phone lines may not work unless contingency plans are put in place to deal with computer glitches that could arise with the date changeover in the year 2000, Communications Director Armando Vinueza said Tuesday.

Computers operated by Ecuador's largest phone operator, Pacifictel, which handles service in the Andean country's commercial capital of Guayaquil, are still not millennium compliant, Vinueza said. Some 300,000 lines are at risk of failure, he said. Pacifictel is owned by the government.

Experts fear many computers worldwide may malfunction or crash on Jan. 1, 2000, because some systems allocate only two digits to represent a year. Consequently, some computers may read the year 2000 as 1900, leading to malfunctions or complete shutdowns.

"We need to be absolutely ready by the end of this month or next month and Pacifictel is working on this," Vinueza said.

Official estimates show public and private companies in Ecuador will spend the equivalent of 4 to 5 percent of gross national product to assure their computer systems can handle the date changeover. One percent of GDP is equal to $143 million.

======================================= End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 07, 1999

Answers

Link please?

-- regular (notlong@no.w), September 08, 1999.

Here it is:

Link

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 08, 1999.