The Tonga government has issued Starlink a provisional permit to operate in the kingdom.
This allows Starlink Pacific Islands LLC time to process applications and payments for its services.
The news comes after the government recently told the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband provider to stop servicing customers. At the time, the company has yet to gain a licence to operate legally in the kingdom.
The warning against Starlink came after the island networks of Vava’u and Haʻapai were cut last month following damage to the undersea cable.
“The Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change, Communications, and CERT (MEIDECC), under the authority of the Minister responsible for Communications has announced the granting of a provisional temporary permit to Starlink by declaration to operate in the Kingdom of Tonga, through Section 29 of the Communication Act 2015 CAP (15.01)”, a statement from the government confirming the grant of the provisional license said.
The Ministry said the temporary permit issued to Starlink includes several conditions designed to ensure compliance with government regulations and address public concerns.
The license granted to Starlink is valid for a period of six months.
It said the government instructed Starlink to cease its services in Tonga due to the illegal use of satellite terminals and disruptions caused by the undersea fibre cable outage to Vava’u and Ha’apai Islands since June 29th.
The issuance of this permit aims to address public concerns while ensuring that operations are conducted according to regulatory requirements while the application for a full license is finalised.
“The Government of Tonga commends the Starlink team for its fruitful and collaborative approach during the evaluation process and wishes Starlink Pacific Islands LLC the best in building a business that continues to benefit all Tonga citizens and residents”.
Rescheduled
Meanwhile, a government spokesperson told Kaniva News that a specialist cable repair ship is sailing to Tonga from Singapore and is expected to arrive in the islands next Friday (July 26). He previously told us it would arrive on Thursday, 18.
The cable had been broken by a recent earthquake near the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano. It was detected 73-96 km from Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu and northwest of Haapai islands.
The Ministry has a spare section of cable about 60km long which it hopes will cover the damage.
“If not, we have to wait to give time to manufacture new cables”, the Ministry said.
This is the third time Tonga’s undersea cable has been disrupted.
In January 2019 Tonga’s cable was cut in an incident Tongan authorities blamed on a Malta-registered ship, the Duzgit Venture.
Tonga Cable said the cable was cut into four sections by an anchor dragged along the sea bed.
In 2022 the Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption destroyed portions of the cable and cut Tonga off from the rest of the world.
At the time, we reported comments from Dean Veverka, chief technical officer for Southern Cross Cables, which owns two other cables in the area.
He said satellites could only handle a small percentage of the traffic requirements out of any country.
“These days, submarine cables carry about 99 per cent of all communications between countries,” he said.
