Tonga Cable System

Tonga Cable System
FoundedConstruction began 2012
Area served
Tonga & Fiji
OwnerTonga Cable Limited (TCL)
Websitetongacable.to

Tonga Cable System is a submarine fiber-optic cable system connecting Tonga with Fiji,[1] where it connects to other international networks. It is 827 kilometres (514 mi) long and was activated in 2013.[1] It has cable landing points at Sopu, a suburb of Nukuʻalofa in Tonga, and Suva, Fiji.[1] The project was funded by Asian Development Bank[2] and the World Bank.[3]

An extension of the cable to Haʻapai and Vavaʻu was commissioned in April 2018.[4]

History

On 20 January 2019, the cable broke and disrupted Internet services to Tonga. Satellite communications were used as a backup.[5]

Three years later, the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption disrupted it again.[6] A specialist repair ship from SubCom could take days to get to the fault site, as it was deployed from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. It was expected to take at least two weeks to repair the system, assuming no new eruption affected the zone.[7][8] Repair of the cable to Nukuʻalofa, of which 55 kilometres had disappeared, presumed buried by an underwater avalanche, was completed on 21 February, with testing and recommissioning expected within 24 hours. The extension from Nukuʻalofa to Haʻapai and Vavaʻu remained damaged.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Tonga Cable Launch". TongaCable. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Tonga-Fiji Submarine Cable Project". Asian Development Bank. 9 September 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Contract for the Submarine Cable System for Tonga Signed Today". Tonga Ministry of Information and Communications. 10 May 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Tonga-Fiji Submarine Cable Project". Asian Development Bank. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  5. ^ Nick Perry (23 January 2019). "No screen time: Tonga faces weeks of internet disruption". Associated Press. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  6. ^ Keall, Chris (16 January 2022). "Tonga volcanic eruption: Looks like worst-case scenario for islands' internet cable". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  7. ^ Menon, Praveen (18 January 2022). "Undersea cable fault could cut off Tonga from rest of the world for weeks". Reuters. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Tonga undersea cable needs 'at least' four weeks to repair: NZ". BBC News. 19 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  9. ^ Halpin, James (22 February 2022). "Internet restored to Tonga after cable destroyed by eruption is repaired". New Zealand: Stuff. Retrieved 22 February 2022.


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