Coverage of the .to internet outage

Wed Jan 19 23:56:05 UTC 2022

--- surfer at mauigateway.com wrote:
--- jra at baylink.com wrote:
From: "Jay R. Ashworth" <jra at baylink.com>

This piece:

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073863310/an-undersea-cable-fault-could-cut-tonga-from-the-rest-of-the-world-for-weeks

drills down to this piece with slightly more detail:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/funds/undersea-cable-fault-could-cut-off-tonga-rest-world-weeks-2022-01-18/

I'm told their national carrier is trying to bring in a ground station as 
well, though not whom it will connect to.
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It's hard to imagine they don't have a lot of Kacific Terminals or other satellite connectivity there.

That's what most of the South Pacific uses and all used before the cables were laid.  Maybe the journalists
missed that like they miss things when talking about our stuff?
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PFFT, no sooner than I hit send and the answer comes out of the PICISOC list:

https://www.capacitymedia.com/articles/3830551/dispute-over-57m-impedes-moves-to-re-connect-tonga-to-the-world

"Dispute over $5.7m impedes moves to re-connect Tonga to the world"

"The government has still not paid Kacific for a 15-year deal, signed three years ago, to provide satellite back-up 
in just such an eventuality."

"Now Kacific says it is “standing by” to connect the islands and its 105,000 people, who were cut off by the 
weekend’s volcano."

"owever, company noted that “the previous government was unwilling to perform the contract, and it is currently 
subject to arbitration in Singapore”.

Patouraux said: “All we need is to activate that service and perform that contract. We are now awaiting instructions. 
We have one simple message for the government of Tonga. We can help. Please get in touch.”

Notably: "Getting in touch might be a problem, as both the 827km Tonga Cable from Fiji is cut about 37km from the 
cable landing station, and so is the 410km Tonga Domestic Cable Extension, which connects the main island with two 
outlying islands to the north.

scott