Pacific Island Nation Tonga Reconnects To The World Month After Undersea Volcanic Eruption

The South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga reconnected to the world on Tuesday. Officials said that the Pacific island nation was reconnected after repairs were made to a submarine cable.

A photo showing Red Cross teams delivering essential relief items such as tarpaulins, shelter tool kits and blankets to families in Kanokupolu, after the nearby Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on January 15. Credit: Handout / TONGA RED CROSS SOCIETY / AFP

New Delhi: The South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga reconnected to the world on Tuesday. Officials said that the Pacific island nation was reconnected after repairs were made to a submarine cable, news agency Reuters reported.

Last month, an explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano occurred, triggering a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean. 

Tonga is an archipelago of more than 170 islands in the South Pacific Ocean 2,000 km northeast of Auckland, New Zealand.

Quoting Tonga Cable chief executive James Panuve, a Reuters report said that people on the main island will have access almost immediately. Panuve gave this information to Reuters after a repair ship handed over the restored cable on Tuesday afternoon.

School chaplain Penisimani Akauola was one of the first persons to get back online since the explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in mid-January, the Reuters report said.

Akauola wrote on Facebook: "First post on Facebook since January 15th! So Blessed for the opportunity! Malo Tonga Cable & Tonga Government!"

As the repairs to the cable were made, Tongans struggled with makeshift satellite services, the report said. 

The repair ship Reliance replaced a 92-kilometre (57-mile) section of the 827-kilometre submarine fibre optic cable that connects Tonga to Fiji and other international networks. The ship took 20 days to perform this task, the report said.

According to the report, Panuve thanked telecommunications companies in neighbouring Pacific islands, particularly New Caledonia. These companies provided lengths of cable when Tonga ran out.

Panuve said that the next job would be to repair the domestic cable connecting the main island of Tongatapu with outlying islands that were worst hit by the tsunami, according to the report. He said that the job could take six to nine months.

"We don't have enough cable," he further said.

Panuve added that communication using interim satellite services to outlying islands would improve after Tonga's networks switched the main island from satellite to fibre, according to the report.

All Customers Connected To Outside World: Digicel

Digicel, one of two major service providers in Tonga, said in a statement that all its customers were connected to the outside world as data connectivity was restored in the main island Tongatapu and Eua after undersea submarine cable repairs.

Digicel today announced all its customers are connected to the outside world as data connectivity has been restored in the main island Tongatapu and Eua after undersea submarine cable repairs.

— Digicel Tonga (@DigicelTO) February 22, 2022

Digicel Tonga chief executive, Anthony Seuseu said in the statement that the incidents related to submarine cables are considered a force majeure, which presents a challenge for local network operators.

Anthony further said that the recent incident has also provided the opportunity to their team to look at increased investment and network optimisation to plan and prepare better for a catastrophic event of such nature in the future.