MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. has warned subscribers to expect slower internet connections as multiple international undersea cable links to Hong Kong were damaged due to the recent strong typhoon which hit the city.

The damage to the cables has affected the services of internet service providers (ISPs) in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

“As one of the affected ISPs in the country, PLDT is working closely with our overseas cable partners to speed up repair work. Based on their current plans, our cable partners expect restoration work to be completed in about three weeks,” PLDT said.

As repair work is being undertaken, PLDT said it is also taking steps for improved internet services for the Home and Enterprise customers.

“We apologize for the inconvenience this incident has caused our customers,” PLDT said.

It also said it would continue to provide updates to customers.

Globe Telecom Inc., meanwhile, said the damage to the undersea cables had no adverse impact to enterprise clients and mobile and broadband customers.

Yoly Crisanto, senior vice president for corporate communications at Globe said the telco has rerouted the data traffic going through the affected cable systems to other subsea cable capacity routes.

“Globe Telecom takes its internet routing responsibilities seriously, and over the years have invested significant amounts of capital in a variety of subsea cable systems, including the recent SEA-US system, to ensure diversity,” she said.

While there has been no adverse impact on Globe’s services, the telco has technical teams which monitor the network to ensure voice, text messaging and data services are operating normally.