Ships Arranged from Papua New Guinea to Repair Tonga Submarine Cable

Aerial photo taken on Jan 17, 2022 by a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion aircraft shows the view of main island of Tonga after volcano eruption. [Photo/Xinhua]

China Telecom told China Daily on Jan 19 that repair ships have been coordinated from Papua New Guinea to fix the submarine cable in Tonga damaged by a massive eruption of an underwater volcano off the island nation, and the repair work may take several weeks.

The telecom giant said the volcanic eruption damaged the only submarine cable called Tonga Cable that connects the island nation to the outside world.

At present, Tonga's external communication services are interrupted, with the services provided by China Telecom also affected by the volcanic eruption, the company said.

China Telecom said it is actively communicating with local operators, and it learned that professional repair ships have been coordinated from Papua New Guinea to the fault point of Tonga's submarine cable for emergency repairs.