TOKYO: Japanese cabinet ministers in their respective press conferences Tuesday criticized the large-scale disruption of KDDI Corp.’s mobile phone and data communications services over the weekend.

“It was a problem of an unprecedented scale that disrupted services for over 48 hours,” communications minister Yasushi Kaneko said. “We need to conduct a drastic examination (of the disruption) so that a similar problem will never occur again,” he said.

The communications ministry, which supervises the telecommunications industry, plans to hold a meeting of a panel of outside experts to look into the way KDDI handled the issue, including how its customers were informed of the incident, and whether the company had used the lessons from past similar problems.

Kaneko suggested that the ministry will consider issuing an administrative guidance against KDDI, saying that “we will take necessary action” after receiving a report on the latest incident from the telecommunications carrier.

It is “extremely regrettable” that the network disruption rendered automated teller machines at some banks unusable, financial services minister Shunichi Suzuki said. The Financial Services Agency will consider making alternative measures available in the event ATM and other financial services are disrupted due to a system glitch, he added.

“Communications services are essential infrastructure for people’s daily lives and socioeconomic activities,” industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said.

The disruption also affected data transmission for the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System, or AMeDAS. The agency is affiliated with the infrastructure ministry.

Infrastructure minister Tetsuo Saito said that the agency will “appropriately consider” damage compensation from KDDI.

The nationwide KDDI network disruption started in the small hours of Saturday, affecting up to 39.15 million subscribers at one point.

JIJI Press