Tonga reconnected as submarine cable is restored after tsunami

SYDNEY • Tonga was reconnected to the world yesterday following repairs to a submarine cable, officials said, a month after a volcanic eruption and tsunami cut communications to the remote Pacific island nation.

"People on the main island will have access almost immediately," Tonga Cable chief executive James Panuve told Reuters by telephone, after a repair ship handed over the restored cable yesterday afternoon.

School chaplain Penisimani Akauola Tonga was among those getting back online for the first time since the disaster struck the tiny island nation in mid-January.

"First post on Facebook since Jan 15! So blessed for the opportunity! Malo Tonga Cable & Tonga government!" he wrote.

Tongans have struggled with makeshift satellite services as the repairs to the cable were made.

The repair ship Reliance took 20 days to replace a 92km section of the 827km submarine fibre-optic cable that connects Tonga to Fiji and other international networks.

Mr Panuve thanked telecommunications companies in neighbouring Pacific islands, particularly New Caledonia, which provided lengths of cable when Tonga ran out.

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, which could take six to nine months, said Mr Panuve. "We don't have enough cable," he added.

Still, communication using interim satellite services to outlying islands would improve after Tonga's networks switched the main island from satellite to fibre, he said.

One of two major service providers, Digicel, said in a statement that all its customers on Tongatapu and Eua islands were connected to the outside world as data connectivity was restored.

REUTERS