The Cable Ship Lodbrog located the northern end of Tonga’s damaged domestic fibre optic cable on Sunday and is now searching for the southern end attached to Tongatapu.
The repair is expected to be completed by this Friday, 16 August, according to Tonga Cable CEO, Semisi Panuve.
The submarine telecommunications cable, which connects Tongatapu with the Ha’apai and Vava’u islands, was found to be completely cut 96 kilometers north of Tongatapu. The damage is believed to be the result of an earthquake that struck on June 29.
“This was after searching on three attempts. The retrieved cable has been successfully tested towards Ha’apai and Vava’u and the cable has been capped off and was dropped back into the water with a buoy marker,” Panuve explained.
Currently, the CS Lodbrog is attempting to locate the southern end of the cable. A first attempt was made around on Monday, but it was unsuccessful.
Initially, Tonga Cable reported two faults on the cable, located 73 km and 96 km from Tongatapu. However, Panuve clarified that their latest survey found only one fault. “More likely, there was a glitch in our data, but the fault we located at 73 km from Tongatapu has disappeared.” The CS Lodbrog, which arrived from Fiji on 07 August, conducted a 2-day bathymetry survey of the area. Tonga Cable has limited spare cable for repairs, and if the damage exceeds 50 kilometers, the repair will be postponed until sufficient cable is available.