Tonga was the protagonist of one of the most catastrophic natural events that we have witnessed in recent years. The amazing volcanic eruption was captured on video from space, and not only caused several tsunamis that reached as far as the American continent; the eruption has alsobroken the only submarine cable that kept the small south pacific nation connected to the rest of the world. The specialists in charge of the repair have reported that it could take up to a month to return the connection to the island.
The Tonga government has warned that Internet access is “ down” after the events of this January 15, Reuters says. Until then, the seriousness of the break in the submarine telecommunications cable was not known, but according to the cable company SubCom, it will take up to four weeks to repair the connection. Samiuela Fonua, president of Tonga Cable Ltd., says a specialized repair ship will set sail from Port Moresby this weekend; your task will be to restore the connection in Tonga.
The New Zealand High Commission has notified in a recent update that it has been establishing an interim mobile phone system. Said connection only reaches 2G speeds, and has a fairly “limited and irregular” capacity, as reported. The region's electrical system was also seriously affected, but the New Zealand agency assures that part of it has been restored.
Tonga will remain disconnected from the world
Photo by JJ Ying on Unsplash For its part, the repair ship that will set sail from Port Moresby over the weekend will take up to nine days to reach Samoa, where it will collect the necessary equipment to carry out its mission. Once this first trip has been made, the ship will set sail for the dangerous area of the eruption. For this reason, Samiuela Fonua is not too optimistic about the repair time of the Tonga submarine cable, assuring that it could take even more than four weeks.
The cable that connected Tonga to the Internet is about 827 kilometers long . Of course, since it is a submarine cable, the intervention of a specialist underwater repair ship will be required. Regarding the location of the telecommunications cable, Samiuela Fonua stated that “Actually the cables are around the volcanic area. We don't know if they are intact or have been blown up or are stuck somewhere underwater. They could be buried even deeper.”
Tonga inaugurated its submarine telecommunications cable just a few years ago, in 2018, and it is valued at around 34 million dollars; In addition, it was financed by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. Of course, it was one of the great modern developments of the island, and also the only thing that kept it connected to the rest of the world, until now.
