Tonga's internet finally restored 5 weeks after big eruption
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Tonga's main internet connection to the rest of the world has finally been restored more than five weeks after a huge volcanic eruption and tsunami severed a crucial undersea cable.
Three people in Tonga were killed by the Jan. 15 tsunami and dozens of homes destroyed.
The fiber-optic cable is now fully operational again after being reconnected Tuesday, said Samiuela Fonua, the chairperson at Tonga Cable Ltd., the state-owned company that owns the cable.
“It's a huge relief when you know things have come to the end and are working well,” Fonua told The Associated Press. “It's one step forward for the country.”
Fonua said the crew aboard a repair ship replaced about 90 kilometers (56 miles) of cable that had been damaged by the tsunami. His company didn't have enough spare cable, Fonua added, and needed to borrow some from other companies.
The fix means that Tonga Cable can now focus on repairing a second severed cable that connects some of the outer islands to the main island, Fonua said. That cable runs close to the undersea volcano.
Fonua said that entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company had also been helping restore connections through its network of low-orbit satellites called Starlink.
Fonua said his company had been testing the satellite connections this week and they had been working well. He said that now the main cable was restored, he hoped the SpaceX connections could be used for reconnecting people on some of the outer islands.
Officials in neighboring Fiji said SpaceX had established a station there to help restore connections in Tonga.
Tonga has also been grappling with its first outbreak of the coronavirus, which may have been brought in by foreign military crews aboard ships and planes delivering vital aid after the...
