Residents of Tonga’s outlying islands will have to wait until at least mid-August for internet connectivity to return to normal, as the ship sent to repair the nation’s only domestic subsea cable is itself being repaired after breaking down.
The Tonga Domestic Cable Extension (TDCE), which connects the main island of Tongatapu with the northern islands of Vava'u and Ha’apai, has been down since June 29 after an early morning earthquake damaged it in two locations.
A repair ship dispatched from Singapore was supposed to arrive in mid-July, with the aim to fix the cable by the end of the month. However, according to a report from Radio New Zealand on Monday, the ship has been stuck in Fiji with a damaged drive shaft.
Acting communications director Stan Ahio told RNZ the drive shaft was damaged after a fishing net became wrapped around one of the ship’s propellers.
Ahio said the ship should arrive in about a week, which means the TDCE cable won’t be repaired until at least mid-August.
In the meantime, residents of Vava'u and Ha’apai are stuck with really slow internet, which is being backhauled by satellite connectivity activated by Tonga Communication Corporation (TCC) and Digicel Tonga.
LEO satellite service provider Starlink is supposed to be another option, after the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change (MEIDECC) granted Starlink a temporary permit to operate in Tonga earlier this month. Under the permit, Starlink is allowed to sell services directly to consumers and arrange reseller arrangement with local operators.
However, Ahio told RNZ that Starlink hasn’t started selling services in Tonga yet because “it is still working on activating the Tongan currency so people here can buy the service.”
One of the conditions of the temporary licence is that Starlink must facilitate local payment methods in Tonga. "It's up to Starlink to get it up and running as soon as possible,” Ahio said.
Meanwhile, Vava'u and Ha’apai residents who own illegally imported Starlink kits can’t use the service’s roaming feature, as the MEIDECC ordered the satellite operator on July 9 to disable services in Tonga.
