A second fault on the international submarine cable, which connects Tonga through the Southern Cross Cable Network to Fiji, was located further out to sea from the first fault, early this morning, 30 January.

Tonga Cable Ltd CEO, Mr ‘Etuini Liava’a, onboard the cable repair ship Reliance, said the second cut was found after 2:00am.

“After locating the first fault, several tests were run and we found out that there is another fault. The ROV was then re-launched last night to trace the second fault,” he said.

The ship is scheduled to return to the location of the first fault, which is closer to Tonga, to carry out more tests. The first fault was found yesterday, 29 January, 100m away from where it was originally laid.

Once the tests are completed, the team will be able to accurately estimate how long it will take to fix the international cable.

Tonga's fibre optic cable blackout is in Day 10 after it went out on Sunday evening, 20 January.