Tonga's Internet Cable Could Take 'More Than A Month' To Repair After Being Severed By Volcanic Eruption

Tonga's internet cable under the Pacific Ocean could reportedly take over a month to repair, shortly after it was severed by one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in recent history. 

The underwater fiber optic cable is what supplies the small island nation with internet; basically connecting it with the rest of the world. But as per a recent statement by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs (via BBC), repairing the 31,000-mile long cable is no easy feat. 

What this basically means is that the country's 110,000 residents will be basically cut off from the world for a while. 

To deal with the temporary internet outage, a much slower 2G connection has been reportedly established on the mainland. The connection is courtesy of a satellite dish owned by the University of South Pacific. 

But while the majority of internet services are still being worked on, most phone lines have been restored in the country, according to Reuters. The reconnection was due to the efforts of local telco Digicel, who says they've already brought back international calls. 

Tonga literally only relies on a single fiber optic cable running under the waters of the South Pacific ocean. According to The Verge, this lone cable cannot be repaired by ordinary equipment, which is why the restoration of internet services on the island will take a while. 

Compared to more developed countries like the UK, which has around 50 cables supplying data, Tonga's lone cable is relatively meager. 

This news comes after the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai volcano erupted last January 14th. It was considered as one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recent times, with a plume of volcanic ash reaching an insane 35 miles above the Earth's surface, reports the BBC. 

That distance is roughly halfway through to the Karman line (the internationally recognized boundary of outer space), which is over 62 miles up. 

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How Will Tonga's Internet Cable Be Fixed? 

Considering it is an underwater cable, Tonga's internet cable requires a bevy of specialized equipment that cannot be procured at a moment's notice. That is one of the reasons why repairs (and full restoration of internet services) could take more than a month to complete. 

As per the original BBC report, the nearest cable repair ship, The Reliance, is located 2,900 miles away in Papua New Guinea's Port Moresby. Sending the ship to the repair area is also no simple feat, since experts will first have to see whether the area is actually safe for the vessel and the crew. 

Once the ship is there, it will send either a remote-operated underwater vehicle (ROV) or a grapnel to get the broken end of the cable onto the ship. There, technicians will reconnect the cable to a fresh segment on board. They will repeat the process for the other broken end. 

Underwater internet cables actually break down every two weeks (via WIRED), so a repair process like this is not unprecedented. It's just the time-consuming nature of these repairs that pose a problem, especially to an island nation that only relies on one. 

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This article is owned by Tech Times 

Written by RJ Pierce