8 Dec 2006

Samoa met service says faults in new system now under control

6:39 pm on 8 December 2006

The Samoa meteorology service is installing a new wireless system, which led to several faults this week.

The installation caused a breakdown of communication technologies on Monday, which stopped the distribution of all weather forecasts that day.

The chief meteorologist, Ausetalia Titimaea, says forecasts are being issued again, though it is slow.

"It is not really serious. It was a switchover from one protocol to the next, at this stage we are still getting information, but very slowly, however, we are able to manage it at this stage. 14"

Mr Titimaea says the meteorology service is still having some technical problems that are also affecting its website.

He says the met service will test the new system, which is more cost-effective than the old one, for several weeks before making a decision on whether to keep it or not.