SubCom ship completes repair of damaged Tonga cable system

SubCom has completed the repair of two Tongan submarine cables that were cut in two places, the damage nearly completely wiping out telephone and Internet access on the island nation.

Upon notification of the break, SubCom mobilised the cable vessel Reliance and deployed it to Tonga to carry out the repairs.

The necessary repairs to both cables were completed within eight days of Reliance’s arrival.

The break in the cables, which occurred on January 20, may have been caused by a ship’s anchor, Tonga Cable CEO Edwin Liava’a said in a statement.

The resulting outage made overseas phone calls impossible as well as severely hampered airline bookings, money wire transfers, online school enrolments, and other similar transactions.

A satellite dish was hastily mounted in the capital Nuku’alofa and provided limited backup connectivity until the cables were finally repaired.