'Hard Thing': Elon Musk Lists Reasons Not to Reconnect Isolated Tonga With Starlink Internet

A New Zealand politician on 17 January made an impassioned plea to Elon Musk - who also owns the satellite internet constellation Starlink - to reconnect Tonga with communication services. The western pacific nation's telecommunication networks were damaged by a volcanic eruption on 15 January.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk has said he would struggle to provide internet connectivity to Tonga which lost its networks when the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted on 15 January.

Tonga Cable Ltd fears it will take more than a month to restore the severed internet connectivity because of the damage sustained by the submarine cable from the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption.

New Zealand MP Shane Reti has written to Elon Musk to ask whether the SpaceX chief could provide "urgent Starlink communications to public officials and the good people of Tonga in this moment of need", to which Musk replied:

"This is a hard thing for us to do right now, as we don't have enough satellites with laser links, and there are already geo satellites that serve the Tonga region", Musk said in a Twitter response on Friday.

Elon Musk has kindly replied "Could people from Tonga let us know if it is important for Spacex to send over Starlink terminals" It sounds like he can figure out how to make this happen. This would be a good thing for Tonga. Can the community reply then please to @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/fR0kXLHBcJ

— Dr Shane Reti (@DrShaneRetiMP) January 21, 2022

The New Zealand MP suggested tackling the immediate challenges by setting up a ship-based ground station midway to Fiji and then connecting to a ground station on the Southern Cross Cable.

Southern Cross Cable maintains several undersea cables in the South Pacific region.

On 15 January, billionaire Musk said that there are 1,469 satellites active, with 272 moving to operational orbits at around 550km.

On Wednesday, digital operator Digicel managed to partially restore international calling capability but it said that complete network services would not be available until the undersea cable was fixed.

Singapore-based satellite operator Kacific also has a satellite above the archipelago to reconnect Tonga but a contract dispute between the Tongan government and Kacific has prevented the implementation of a three-year-old deal.

Kacific chief Christian Patouraux said that the firm is prepared to provide a full set of satellite broadband services under a Framework Services Agreement that was negotiated and signed by Tongan Authorities in April 2019.

"However, the previous government was unwilling to enter into the contract, and it is subject to arbitration in Singapore", the company said in a statement on Monday.

"All we need is to activate that service and accept that contract. We are now awaiting instructions. We have one simple message for the government of Tonga. We can help. Please get in touch", Christian Patouraux added.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano eruption, about 65km (40 miles) north of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, caused a 1.2-metre tsunami that damaged the undersea cable.

Countries have sent humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to Tonga. The United Nations estimated that more than 80 percent of the South Pacific nation's 84,000 people have been affected by the disaster.

Around 60 to 70 percent of households which rear livestock have seen their animals perish, grazing land damaged, and water supplies contaminated.