After the eruption of the underwater volcano that has brought Tonga’s communication networks to their knees, Starlink’s plan is to “reconnect the archipelago to the world”.
Starlink: “We will bring the Internet back to Tonga”
A few hours ago Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, attorney general of the local government, confirmed the joint efforts with Starlink per restore the communications network of Tonga. The Polynesian archipelago was hit – on January 15, 2022 – by one violent eruption of one of the numerous underwater volcanoes present in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. A disastrous natural event it has literally brought communication networks to their knees of one of the most remote corners of the Earth. A team of SpaceX however, it is currently working to bring the Internet back to Fiji and adjacent areas via the network Starlink. After all, the same Elon Musk he had promised, in recent weeks, a commitment to “reconnect Tonga to the world”.
Starlink, which operates through a dense network of satellites in low orbit, allows bring connection even to the most isolated areas of the planet. The strong point of the system is in fact that of being free from fiber cables. The cause of the blackout in the archipelago was the breaking of an underwater cable, 870 km long, which connected the capital of Tonga (Nuku’alofa) to that of the Fiji Islands (Suva).
To better understand how Starlink works, we tried it personally: read how it went here.