InformationWeek, one of our beloved CMP sister publications, reports that a couple o' ships are "racing" to fix those telecom cables recently damaged by an earthquake near Hong Kong (I'm picturing a couple of guys with toolbelts on hydroplanes). "Officials at telecommunications companies and government agencies said the service in Hong Kong would likely be sluggish until mid-month," say the scribes over at IW.

So Hong Kong is sluggish, eh? Does that mean we'll have to pay full price for DVDs? Will we all be getting less SPAM today?

Light Reading reports today that Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. (NYSE: CHT) is ready to open up the wallet to the tune of $4 billion to upgrade equipment. (See Chunghwa Plans FTTH Blowout.)

To put that in perspective, that buys you 1.5 million or so Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) compliant 10-Gbit/s Ethernet Xenpak modules, which have a street price of $2,000 to $3,000 each, according to Shopping.com.

Carrier Access Corp. (Nasdaq: CACS), the quirky little Boulder Colo.-based access equipment company, kept investors on their toes last night. Management announced that revenues will be coming in a bit light from expectations -- up to 30 percent lighter. The company now expects revenue of only $12.3 million to $12.5 million, compared to the $16 million most analysts were expecting. That will mean a larger loss -- as high as 28 cents per share -- as well.Carrier Access shares were getting clobbered today on the news, down $0.54 (8%) to $5.95.

— R. Scott Raynovich, Editor in Chief, Light Reading