On Sunday evening at 20:30 o'clock local time the island state Tonga fell technologically into the past century back. The submarine cable connecting the archipelago in the South Pacific with the Internet failed. However, this went hand in hand with more than just a temporary failure of e-mail services, the Web, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Telephone connections abroad were no longer possible, and credit card terminals could no longer authorize payments.
In a report from the news site "Matangi Tonga Online", the head of the Western Union local office reports that no cash transfers were possible until Tuesday due to the Internet downtime. Only when it was possible to redirect the data traffic that normally runs via the 827 kilometer long fiber-optic cable via a local provider of satellite Internet, have it been possible to start working again. However, the transfers are "still very slow" and can only be used on the main island of the archipelago.
The grid failure also has an effect on one of the few economic sectors in the country, tourism. On the one hand, interested parties can not make online bookings with providers in Tonga, and on the other hand, holidaymakers were not able to contact travel agencies and hotels prior to arrival, for example to arrange their pick-up from the airport. Retailers and hoteliers also complain about problems because no card payments are possible. Partly one had therefore gone over to note the credit card data of the customers to debit the contributions due later.
Repair of the submarine cable could take one to two weeks
How long the Internet downtime will last for the 100,000 or so inhabitants of Tonga is unclear. The damage had apparently occurred in 80 kilometers, said the head of the operator Tonga Cable Ltd. talking to "Matangi Tonga Online". What kind of problem is, but you can not say yet. The repair would take at least a week or two.
While a large part of the island's population appears to be accepting the Internet loss largely calmly, the chairman of two female entrepreneurs' organizations complains that the incident causes so little excitement. After all, you live in a "global world where companies can not afford to be cut off."
Christian Patouraux, head of Kacific Broadband Satellites, whose satellites are currently connecting Tonga to the Internet, sums up the state of the island to the AP news agency: "Internally, the country is functioning normally, but it is largely cut off from the rest of the world in the dark age. "