Connectivity in Tonga Restored by SES Networks and Digicel Following Fibre Outage

Connectivity in Tonga Restored by SES Networks and Digicel Following Fibre Outage (Photo: Business Wire)

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Mobile networks and broadband access services for business and consumer customers operated by Digicel Tonga were rapidly restored across the Polynesian archipelago by SES Networks' managed services following a severe fibre outage last week, announced SES.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190130005349/en/

Under the agreement Digicel, a mobile network provider operating in the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific, uses SES's reliable and comprehensive C-band beams to deliver satellite-enabled and scalable IP transit trunk circuits between Tonga and Fiji. SES Networks' Signature Telecom Solution enabled Digicel Tonga to ensure business critical services were available to customer across the island nation.

Connectivity in the Polynesian country was disrupted when the Tonga Cable System, an 827-kilometre-long fibre optic submarine cable that links Sopu in Tonga and Suva in Fiji, was cut in two places on 20 January. The cable cuts occurred in relatively shallow offshore water, and it has been suggested that the damage may have been caused by a ship's anchor, negatively impacting education, commerce and tourism.

"We are extremely proud to deliver reliable, high-speed broadband connectivity to nations that experience unexpected outages, so that their citizens can continue with daily communications and business activities uninterruptedly," said Imran Malik Khan, VP, Global Fixed Data Sales at SES Networks. "We have worked closely together with Digicel in the past in the Asia Pacific region, and now we're able to implement together our Signature Telecom Solution in a record time in Tonga. We are especially pleased to help Tongan people get back online while efforts to repair the Tonga Cable System cable are taking place."

"Our job always is to ensure that our customers are as connected as possible. We have been hugely helped in that by SES Networks who provided a reliable and flexible solution that could help us overcome the challenges faced when trying to get our mobile networks and broadband access up and running where and when we needed it in the shortest possible time.," said Francis Thomsen, CEO at Digicel Tonga. "Our customers have an alternative path to access data services at all times through SES' satellite fleet and the peace of mind that Digicel is always working to keep them connected."

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