An ROV from the cable ship Reliance has located the damage to Tonga's fibre optic submarine cable, which has shifted about 100 metres south east from where it was originally laid.

The Reliance located the damaged  area of the cable at sea today, 29 January, not far off the coast of Tongatapu.

The MEIDECC Ministry CEO, Paula Ma'u  confirmed the cable had shifted around 100 metres south-east off-course from where it was originally laid

The cause of this shift has yet to be determined. The timeframe to repair the damage has not been confirmed, on this first day of investigation by the Reliance.

The Reliance left Nuku’alofa early this morning, Day 9 of the fibre optic cable blackout, to the location where a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was launched to find and locate the broken undersea cable.

Tonga Cable Ltd. CEO, ‘Etuini Liava’a is on board the ship today.

Government officials and representatives of the Network Providers met with the ship’s Operations Manager, Luis Rey lat night to finalise procedures before the ship left Queen Sālote Wharf early this morning to find the first location of one of the two broken submarine cables.

Internet capacity

Meanwhile, Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC) Technical Manager, Sione Veikoso, told Matangi Tonga they are providing more internet capacity.

“We did more work on the weekend to increase our internet capacity for our customers. Right now, the internet is running on different [satellite] links, one to New Zealand, one to Australia, and one to the Pacific, which is distributed among our customers.”

He said priority internet access was provided to businesses and government departments.

“However, homes are now connected although it is still slow.”

“We’re still doing a bit more work and waiting for some news from Tonga Cable. We hope to hear of the outcome this evening to confirm what happened and how long it will take to repair,” he said.