Tonga takes to radio, satellite, motorboat comms to restore communications after massive volcano blast and tsunami
(2022/01/18)
- Reference: 1642535826
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/01/18/tonga_internet_outage/
- Source link:
Limited communication is being restored in Tonga through satellite, high-frequency radio and motorboat after a violent underwater volcano severed a fiber-optic cable connecting the remote island to the world.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater eruption on Saturday damaged two cables that were the backbones of international and domestic communications in Tonga.
The internet still remains cut off but communications is being restored through other means, the government of Tonga said in its first official statement, [1]posted on Twitter by the Tonga Embassy in Tokyo.
[2]
Tonga has deployed patrol boats as the first step in restoring communication across Tonga's islands.
[3]
[4]
As of Tuesday, limited communication had been established between the main island of Tongatapu, where the capital Nuku'alofa is located, and the nearby Vava'u and Ha'apai island chains through satellite phone and HF radio.
"The two communication providers are working on satellite options to restore some services including the Internet," the government said in its statement.
[5]
The first images of the true extent of damage caused by the volcano started emerging on Monday through images taken by surveillance planes. The [6]Tongan government website was down as of Tuesday morning, and attempts to access the site timed out.
An investigation by one of the communications providers, Digicel, revealed that two separate undersea cables were broken. One was on the domestic cable route linking the islands in Tonga together, and the other, and perhaps more critical, was on an undersea fiber optic cable that linked Tonga to the rest of the world.
[7]Australian government in talks to buy Pacific Islands' top telco
[8]Sprint subscribers: What do your updated iPhone and Tonga have in common? Both are cut off from the world
[9]Arrcus looks to 400G future, Tonga stuck on satellite connection, and Linux Foundation's new edge computing effort
[10]Complicit Kiwis sniffed Pacific comms says Snowden
Tonga is on the 30,500km [11]Southern Cross Cable Network fiber optic cable that links US West Coast, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Sydney. The breakage is on the line linking Tonga on the network to Fiji.
The interconnected cable is broken up into two routes, and the redundancy ensures countries on the underwater fiber optic line remain connected. Fiji is still online, but Tonga has been cut off.
A cable repair ship called the CS Reliance will attempt repairs when safe, and until then Digicel services in Tonga won't be fully restored, the company [12]said on Tuesday. Digicel, which is based in Jamaica, runs services across the Pacific through a subsidiary.
[13]
The [14]website of the other main communications provider, the government-run Tonga Communications, was down.
As of Sunday, the ship was docked close to 4,000km away in Port Moresby, and repairs could take two weeks or more, the New Zealand Herald [15]reported . ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/TongaEmbTokyo/status/1483447924994772998
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.gov.to
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/20/telstra_government_funded_digicel_purchase/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2019/01/24/sprint_borking_iphone/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2019/01/28/network_roundup/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/04/complicit_kiwis_sniffed_pacific_comms_says_snowden/
[11] https://www.southerncrosscables.com/home/network
[12] https://www.digicelgroup.com/to/en/news/2022/jan/18th/network-update-volcanic-eruption.html
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] http://tcc.to/
[15] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/tonga-volcanic-eruption-looks-like-worst-case-scenario-for-islands-internet-cable/BA36BLVARRAPVPP3IO5XPHA5B4/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater eruption on Saturday damaged two cables that were the backbones of international and domestic communications in Tonga.
The internet still remains cut off but communications is being restored through other means, the government of Tonga said in its first official statement, [1]posted on Twitter by the Tonga Embassy in Tokyo.
[2]
Tonga has deployed patrol boats as the first step in restoring communication across Tonga's islands.
[3]
[4]
As of Tuesday, limited communication had been established between the main island of Tongatapu, where the capital Nuku'alofa is located, and the nearby Vava'u and Ha'apai island chains through satellite phone and HF radio.
"The two communication providers are working on satellite options to restore some services including the Internet," the government said in its statement.
[5]
The first images of the true extent of damage caused by the volcano started emerging on Monday through images taken by surveillance planes. The [6]Tongan government website was down as of Tuesday morning, and attempts to access the site timed out.
An investigation by one of the communications providers, Digicel, revealed that two separate undersea cables were broken. One was on the domestic cable route linking the islands in Tonga together, and the other, and perhaps more critical, was on an undersea fiber optic cable that linked Tonga to the rest of the world.
[7]Australian government in talks to buy Pacific Islands' top telco
[8]Sprint subscribers: What do your updated iPhone and Tonga have in common? Both are cut off from the world
[9]Arrcus looks to 400G future, Tonga stuck on satellite connection, and Linux Foundation's new edge computing effort
[10]Complicit Kiwis sniffed Pacific comms says Snowden
Tonga is on the 30,500km [11]Southern Cross Cable Network fiber optic cable that links US West Coast, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Sydney. The breakage is on the line linking Tonga on the network to Fiji.
The interconnected cable is broken up into two routes, and the redundancy ensures countries on the underwater fiber optic line remain connected. Fiji is still online, but Tonga has been cut off.
A cable repair ship called the CS Reliance will attempt repairs when safe, and until then Digicel services in Tonga won't be fully restored, the company [12]said on Tuesday. Digicel, which is based in Jamaica, runs services across the Pacific through a subsidiary.
[13]
The [14]website of the other main communications provider, the government-run Tonga Communications, was down.
As of Sunday, the ship was docked close to 4,000km away in Port Moresby, and repairs could take two weeks or more, the New Zealand Herald [15]reported . ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/TongaEmbTokyo/status/1483447924994772998
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.gov.to
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/20/telstra_government_funded_digicel_purchase/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2019/01/24/sprint_borking_iphone/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2019/01/28/network_roundup/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/04/complicit_kiwis_sniffed_pacific_comms_says_snowden/
[11] https://www.southerncrosscables.com/home/network
[12] https://www.digicelgroup.com/to/en/news/2022/jan/18th/network-update-volcanic-eruption.html
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YedGl3oNFAK6-0iyxd@1pQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] http://tcc.to/
[15] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/tonga-volcanic-eruption-looks-like-worst-case-scenario-for-islands-internet-cable/BA36BLVARRAPVPP3IO5XPHA5B4/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Repairing the cable
Timbo
This is an interesting read:
https://www.southerncrosscables.com/home/industry/cables
So, they grapnel one of the broken ends up, off the seabed (that could be somewhere between 1km and 7.6km below the surface).
I guess they have to move the ship "backwards" (along the line of the cable), as there is unlikely to be any slack in the cable to allow it to be raised straight up that far !
The cable end is brought onto the repair ship and they test/check if the fault is there. Then they attach a buoy to it, and set it to sit on the surface, awaiting for it to be spliced onto the other end eventually.
Then they move off and find the other end and do the same.
So, once the two ends have been checked/repaired, those two ends could be maybe a few km apart (where before they were "joined" to each other).
I would imagine they then have to splice in a new long section of cable to take account of this increased distance between the two ends..and once spliced, they then drop the cable back onto the seabed...but they'll be a long "run" of cable that is now looping around on the seabed...but at least the connection will be working.
Quite the shocking disaster when it can be seen from space/orbit. :(
There is no hoping everyone is "ok"; they aren't.
I just hope things get better for them real soon, and that no more lives are lost there.