The two-week saga of the broken segment of the undersea fibre-optic cable seemed to end when repairs were completed Last Friday, but according to a report from chinadaily.com.cn, the scuffle over whether the cable's operators should redress customers' losses caused by the rupture still goes on.

Leng Rongquan, vice-chief executive officer of China Telecom, said on Thursday that the company will not compensate Chinese consumers in line with a contract it signed with an international commission in charge of maintenance for the trans-Pacific cable.

According to the contract, the commission is responsible for reparation only if the cable runs into any trouble.

The remarks have drawn angry responses from consumers and legal professionals.

The argument is logically invalid, as it is "the commission", not "China Telecom", that has no liability for compensation, as stipulated in the contract, said Yu Goufu, a Beijing lawyer.

Yu pointed to media reports saying that a telecom company in Taiwan has promised to make up for customers' losses by reducing service fees.

The way China Telecom has handled the matter shows the company takes an "irresponsible attitude" to consumers, he said.

The undersea cable, severed on February 9, is a major carrier of Internet data exchange between China and the United States, carrying 930 megabytes of Internet circuitry of China Telecom and part of the Internet circuitry owned by China Unicom and China Netcom.

Millions of Internet surfers were frustrated by the slow or no responses when they visited websites in the United States or sent e-mail in the past two weeks.

Many consumers, therefore, have argued that China Telecom, as a service provider, should redress their losses and inconvenience resulting from the abnormal service.