The consortia that own the cable networks must lay new cables on routes which avoid existing areas of concentration like the Luzon Strait. That will happen, but slowly. There's already a glut of underutilized, undersea bandwidth, so the financial incentive to lay more cable is low at the moment.

• The best way to mitigate risks from voice and data communication disruptions in Asia is - and will be - to have service agreements with multiple communication vendors. Your company's risk of exposure to cable breaks is mitigated first and foremost by your telco vendors' participation in multiple cable syndicates so they can offer you routing alternatives.

• You can further mitigate risk by using multiple telecomm vendors for your data and voice traffic. All the financial hubs in Asia now offer competition in their telecom sectors. Don't locate your company in a city with only one telco, one internet ISP or one international carrier.

• Plan to offer independent, simultaneous network service from both north and south Asia. You could have your primary data centre in south Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong) and another in north Asia (Japan or Taiwan), or vice versa. One could be the DR site for the other, but each should be equipped to host services in its hemisphere independently after a network service interruption caused by the next undersea cable break.

• International communication stability is only one factor on which to base a decision to locate a data center in Asia. Of more importance in selecting a site are the number and availability of vendors, data center facilities and qualified staff in your selected city.

• Australia may be an alternative to south Asia. Earthquake risk in Sydney or Melbourne is low, but both cities are far from Asia and cannot match the availability of skilled, multilingual talent in Singapore or Hong Kong.