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French services have bugless return to work

PARIS: Key services in France such as power, telecommunications, transport and food distribution worked smoothly on Monday following the New Year weekend when the feared Y2K bug failed to bite.

The state-run utility Electricite de France, France Telecom and the main Rungis wholesale market all reported problem-free operations as the first working day of the millennium began.

No unusual disruptions in transport were reported in connection with the millennium bug, a possible glitch in computers that cannot read the year 2000.

Even after the successful switch on Saturday, officials had warned that the surge in computer use on Monday could flush out any bugs not found over the weekend.

"Everything is going well, we have no worries this morning," an EdF spokesman said.

"We are still on the alert but we are pretty confident. We got through the main hurdle on New Year's Eve and we passed the essential tests on the nuclear, transport and electric systems."

France Telecom said it had no Y2K-related problems so far but added checks would continue all day.

Tests on a number of minor computer systems, such as those controlling billing and account management, would not be complete until the end of the month.

"We are not bugged, there's been no impact," said spokeswoman Estelle Rozine. "Nothing very much happened on Friday night and traffic flow for the telephone and the Internet is fine."

There were no computer bugs at Rungis, a vast market on the outskirts of Paris where retailers and restaurateurs from France and neighbouring countries converge to buy fresh meat, fish and vegetables.

Consumer Affairs Minister Marylise Lebranchu toured the market halls before dawn and declared herself satisfied that all was working smoothly.

"Everything is just as we expected it to be," she said. "Our last preparatory meeting showed that everything had been checked and all would work well."-Reuters