Page 19 - IB FEB 2019

Telecommunication

Submarine cable laying (above and right) in the Pacific is tedious work Photo: Fintel

Tongan virtual blackout large distances.
Meanwhile Fiji International Telecom-
munication Limited CeO George Samisoni
cause remains a mystery said the cable lines were protected by
armored piping, and that sub-sea cables
Authorities cannot rule out foul play near and in coastal waters were usually
buried three metres underground along
the shore end.
By Peni Komaisavai Samisoni said while Tonga Cable had
Need to know: Fiji-Tonga not ruled out ‘sabotage,’ “most likely
Tongan authorities have not ruled out the cables may have been inadvertently
foul play as the country recovers from two submarine optical cables dragged by a ship’s anchor, as from the
weeks offline. • Tonga (Tonga Cable) budgeted reported distance the cable cut ends were
Tonga’s international and domestic sub- uSD35million to connect with found.”
sea cable lines were severely damaged FINTeL/Fiji back in 2013 to ac- even if as early reports stated, the
on 20 January. Initial reports suggested cess the Southern Cross Cable cables were damaged by a ship’s anchor,
the anchor of a container ship caused the Network (SCCN). the question remains, why was the ship
damage, however police have not ruled out dropping anchor in “no anchorage” zones,
sabotage or human interference. • International bandwidth in Tonga which are enforced 100 metres from where
The Tongan international cable line has grown almost seventeen-fold cables are laid?
runs from Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa to since the cable system came in. Maps denoting where sub-sea cables are
Fiji, while the domestic line runs from • The cable is owned and oper- laid are available from maritime agencies
Nuku’alofa to Ha’apai then on to Vava’u. ated by Tonga Cable Limited such as Tonga’s Ministry of Infrastructure
Specialists involved in the repair work (TCL) whose shareholders are - Maritime. each ship is supposed to have
reportedly found two breaks along the the kingdom of Tonga (83 per a copy of these maps.
vital optic cables of Tonga’s international cent) and Tonga Communications Samisoni said sub-sea cable systems are
lines. Two additional breaks situated a Corporation (17 per cent). Previ- normally designed for a lifespan of 20-25
few kilometres apart were found in the ously satellite connectivity was years, however since the Southern Cross
domestic cable lines. uS$3600 per Mbit/s per month. cable systems came in to service in 2000,
Tonga’s Cable Director Piveni Piukala The cost under the new cable is the life expectancy of each cable has been
told overseas media that crew members uS$475 per Mbit/s per month. extended from 2025 to 2030.
on a repair ship found a rope tangled in The estimated repair costs for dam-
the domestic cable for about 100 metres. • The project to connect Tonga to age such as that suffered in Tonga’s
He added that the cables were twisted the SCCN was supported by the waters ranges from uSD$300,000 to
and damaged along that length. World Bank, Asian Development uSD$500,000 depending on the depth
Piukala said he still had doubts about Bank and Tonga Communications and extent of the cable damage.
the theory that a ship could have acci- Corporation (TCC). Tonga’s government has set up an inde-
dentally applied such a force to the cable, pendent committee to look into the cause
causing such extensive damage over such of the incident

Islands Business, February 2019 19