Tonga begins to come back online after volcanic eruption

Online activity is starting to trickle out of the island nation of Tonga after a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami Saturday left the area offline while responding to the disaster, according to global networks watchers. 

UPDATE ON TONGA: First signs of life for Internet connectivity out of #Tonga since the volcanic eruption!

TCC (Tonga Communications Company, AS38201) started coming back via satellite (Speedcast, AS5666) earlier today.https://t.co/8RljNqIqwC pic.twitter.com/vmNYMtHAZ9

— Doug Madory (@DougMadory) January 20, 2022

Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis for Kentik, says the company observed “first signs of life for Internet connectivity in Tonga since the recent volcanic eruption” at  22:37 UTC on 19 January 2022. 

“Incumbent provider TCC (Tonga Communications Company) has reappeared in the global routing table via a connection to Speedcast, a Pacific region satellite operator,” Madory told The Record. 

Speedcast confirmed to The Record that it was helping "restore vital connectivity services to certain impacted areas, along with providing connectivity to restore some critical banking services."

Tonga’s internet service providers previously relied on a single submarine cable that connected Tonga to Fiji, which was damaged in the blast and may take weeks to repair. 

In a statement released on Twitter on January 18th, Tonga’s government said two of its telecom providers were working to get online access back up with the help of satellite providers—and that communications traffic such as international calls and email would be prioritized as the country was reconnected to the rest of the world.