Asia is suffering a major telecommunications break in the aftermath of an earthquake that hit Taiwan late on Dec. 26.

Several undersea cables were damaged by the magnitude-6.7 quake and might not be repaired for "two to three weeks," according to reports from the region. Taiwan initially lost some telephone connections to Japan and mainland China; some of that service has already been restored, Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. (NYSE: CHT) told the Associated Press.

The wire service noted capacity reductions in phone or data service at some other big carriers in the region, including PCCW Ltd. (NYSE: PCW; Hong Kong: 0008) in Hong Kong and KDDI Corp. in Japan.

So far, two were killed and at least 40 were reported injured in the quake.

The U.S. Geological Survey maps show a magnitude-7.1 quake occurring off the southern tip of Taiwan at 8:26 p.m. in Taiwan on Dec. 26 (in Eastern time, that's 7:26 a.m. on Dec. 26). The location would be 55 miles south to southeast of the city of Kao-hsiung.

— Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light Reading