From 8:00AM to 1PM yesterday (8 GMT), www.net.cn, the largest domain name and website management service provider in China went dark, apparently because of a broken cable.

Website users could not access webmail, while others who had put their websites under the management of www.net.cn had to temporarily halt their online business activities.

According to the company, the failure was caused by the splitting of one of their internal cables.

Since a full damage report has not yet been submitted, the number of people and businesses affected is still unknown.