Results for Business

In Tonga, petrol, diesel and kerosene prices have reached their highest prices to date with new rates effective from Monday, 20 June for a month. Petrol is $4.28 per litre and diesel $4.35 per litre, while kerosene is $3.35 per litre. The surge in petroleum prices will increase the electricity tariff from 1July, on top of already increasing food prices.

Crucial generator parts are expected to arrive from Germany tomorrow, Saturday. Tonga Power Ltd. has been waiting for the parts needed to fix two electrical generators that went down, forcing some load shedding or rolling power cuts on Tongatapu at peak times since the beginning of May. After repairs, power generation should be back to normal in mid-June.

Tongatapu businesses have been busy restocking and refilling goods and products today to be better able to meet customer demand tomorrow, Saturday, when they open their doors between 5:00am and 8:00pm during the current lockdown due to COVID-19. By Eleanor Gee.

The price of petrol, kerosene, and diesel is set to increase starting on Friday, March 18, as approved by the Tonga Competent Authority. The wholesale price for petrol, kerosene and diesel will increase by 23.18 seniti/litre, 19.36 seniti/litre and 21.36 seniti/litre, respectively.

The Tongatapu end of Tonga’s international fibre optic cable was being pulled up today for splicing and is expected to come online by late tomorrow, Tuesday, 38 days after a large section was blown to bits by a volcanic eruption on Jan. 15.

Canned pork, gifted to Tonga as part of Chinese emergency food aid delivery, became the source of a diplomatic incident between the development partners, after Tongan officials stopped the distribution of swine products. The Tonga government expressed “profound regrets”.

Progress has been slow today, Monday, in the search for the Fiji end of Tonga's submarine telecommunications cable - suspected to be broken in several places. Bad weather and rough seas persist in the area. The cable repair ship Reliance recovered the Tonga end of the international cable over the weekend, and secured it at 7:00am Saturday. The ship also recovered a 1.2km long piece of separated submarine cable.

Tonga's broken submarine telecommunications cable is not where it is supposed to be. A search last night by an ROV from the cable boat Reliance, could not locate the break, after it arrived in the area yesterday. By Linny Folau.

When Tongatapu’s small business community met on Thursday Jan. 27, to discuss their concerns, amid an unfolding national catastrophe, following volcanic eruptions and devastating tsunamis, they slumped in chairs and their faces showed how seriously concerned, worried, exhausted and frustrated they are. But after all of that, what's really destroying them is the total failure of Tonga's international communications two weeks ago. Tonga's telecommunications authorities have put spectrum licensing roadblocks around the local private sector's ability to find relief in a commercial satellite broadband service solution. By Mary Lyn Fonua.