(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-03 20:17

BEIJING -- The heavy snow has disrupted mobile phone services in 20 provinces, China Mobile, the country's top wireless operator, reported on Sunday.

The weather caused power failures at 28,000 base stations on the company's network. The company has dispatched 169,000 employees and 78,000 vehicles to repair those stations. By Sunday, workers had restored power at 17,000 base stations, said the company.

Chairman Wang Jianzhou said that the company would do everything in its power to deal with the problem and ensure services during the Spring Festival holiday, which begins on Wednesday.

"Snow and rain continues; so do our mobile services. Air temperatures goes down but the service quality will not," a company statement said.

The statement said that the company would step up maintenance and repair of its stations at all transport facilities to ensure unblocked service during ridership peaks.

It had also called on local subsidiaries in Guangdong Province, where most migrant workers were stranded, and Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Henan and Sichuan provinces where those same workers originally came from, to establish emergency plans.

The worst snow in five decades, which has killed at least 60 people and left many millions facing a cold, dark Lunar New Year holiday, could last until February 8 or 9, according to the Central Meteorological Station.