Digicel and Tonga Communication Corporation (TCC) customers across the kingdom were without internet amid a lengthy outage since Sunday 20 at about 8.30pm.
Digicel and TCC were Tonga’s only two internet and mobile phone providers.
The outage has been described as out of control.
Authorities said the outage was ongoing and no time frame was available for restoration of Tonga Cable’s service.
Tonga Cable Director, Paula Piveni Piukala reportedly said “Tonga currently has no other internet or mobile phone connectivity to the outside world.”
“Kacific’s satellite service ensures that essential services can be maintained as we work to resolve the issue,” he told zdnet.com.
The president of Tonga Chamber of Commerce Paul Chapman said on Facebook today that “Tonga Cable was working hard to rectify the issues, out of their control, with the cable.”
He said Tonga Communication Corporation teams had been working with their providers to increase capacity and working with their satellite provider and TCL and EziNet.
He said TCL and TCC were trying to connect domestic fibre and increase satellite brand width as an option.
“End of the day, all teams working on a solution, for a problem that was out of their control, but hope to have something in place. Meanwhile we still have internet at sites for #PTH #DatelineTransam via #EziNet (Tonga’s Satellite connection via Kacific)” he said.
Zdnet said the subsea cable providing Tonga with broadband, the Tonga Cable, has been out since 20:30 local time on Sunday night, with the nation now relying on satellite internet instead.
“Provided by Kacific, the nation’s digital connection to the outside world is now a Ku-band satellite accessed through local ISP Ezinet.”
