Two ships need to assess state of volcano and submarine cable [1]
Thursday, January 27, 2022 - 02:17. Updated on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 - 18:26.
Editor’s note to Readers: Due to our lack of office internet access since Jan. 16, we have a backlog of material to upload to the Matangi Tonga Online. Therefore, we note the local time of reporting at the start of this article, which may be different from the time of posting on the website.
By Pesi Fonua
24 January 2022: Two highly specialised ships need to come to Tonga – one to assess the current state of the Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha’apai volcano, and another to repair Tonga's submarine fibre optic cable and restore communications with the world.
The volcano that violently erupted on Saturday, Jan. 15 has been inactive since last week, Tonga's Prime Minister Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, told a press briefing on Jan. 24. He said that the latest report that they had received on the state of the volcano, was from the Tonga Defence Services patrol boat, the Ngahau Koula, last week.
However, the Tongan government has requested a scientific report on the state of the volcano, from a USA navy ship that is currently on a tour of the “Ring of Fire” (a zone of volcanic activity surrounding the Pacific Ocean) and is currently in Vava‘u.
Alongside the devastating impact of the volcanic eruption, on the Ha‘apai Group of islands, and the main island Tongatapu and its nearby islands, the damage to Tonga’s cable network, has disrupted its communications with the world.
The PM said that a ship was currently on its way to fix the cable. “Our international telecommunications network should be back in action within three weeks,” he said on Monday.
The Tonga cable network is owned by Tonga Cable Ltd., with the Tonga government holding a majority shareholding, and Tonga Communications Corporation (a public enterprise) and Digicel Ltd. as minority shareholders.
Cable ship delayed
Tonga Cable Ltd. manager, Semisi Panuve, said that a ship had left Papua New Guinea on Friday, heading for Samoa to pick up materials that they needed to fix the broken cable. But unfortunately there had been a lock-down in Samoa because of the COVID-19, and they were trying to work out how to solve that problem.
However, they are expecting the ship to arrive in Tonga on 3 February. This is the second time that Tonga’s submarine telecommunications cable has broken. Satellite services Is there another option for Tonga to have an international telecommunications network rather than just relying on submarine cables? PM Sovaleni, said, “In the long run, no.”
He believed that a satellite connection could provide only 10% of Tonga’s needs, which alternatively can be fully catered for with a cable network.
He said that the government is looking at setting up another cable, to go through Vava’u, “so if this cable breaks (again), the traffic can come through the Vava’u cable. Even if the national cable breaks, the international cable will come through to Vava‘u and to Ha‘apai. So it will enable the international to come through [to them].”
PM Sovaleni stressed that an advantage of a two-cable solution is that both cables can be used all the time.
“Both of these cables can compete and lower the rate of our communication with overseas”.
“Thanks that we have access to a satellite, to take over some of the services, but it can’t cope with our national needs.
“There are benefits with the satellite, it is easier to set up, there is no need to lay a cable. It is more flexible to move the satellite from place to place. “But for national usage, cable is the answer, we can use a satellite, for a certain need, but its capacity is small compared with cable”.
Tsunami alarm not installed
Another issue of concern, that was raised by broadcaster Lamanu Petelo, was why a natural disaster alarm system was not working, during what has been described as the biggest national disaster to ever struck Tonga.
Hon. Poasi Tei Deputy PM and the Minister of MEIDECC, said that the system had not been completed. He said that if it had been in operation, the whole of Tonga would have known that there was a national disaster unfolding.
The Prime Minister elaborated, that the reason why the public disaster alarm system did not work “was not because it was forgotten to be switched on, but it was because the installation of the system has not been completed.”