Why Would A Nation Spurn Help When Disaster Strikes? Parts Of Tonga Without Internet, Yet Orders Starlink To Desist From Operating

July 20, 2024 Greg Abolo

The Oasis Reporters

July 19, 2024

Parts of the island nation of Tonga were cut off from accessing Internet services when the “networks of Vava’u and Haʻapai were cut more than two weeks ago following damage to the undersea cable”, according to a report by the Guardian.

Here’s what the report says:

“Parts of Tonga have been without internet for more than two weeks after an undersea cable was damaged in an earthquake, leaving a third of the country’s population in the dark and causing chaos for local businesses.

The crisis has been further compounded after the government ordered the Starlink internet satellite company to cease operations in Tonga until it was granted a licence.

Starlink has been notified that they do not have a licence, so all terminals should be disabled,” prime minister Siaosi ‘Ofakivahafolau Sovaleni told reporters last week.”

In this modern age, connection to the internet, seen nowadays as an indispensable global superhighway, therefore means that being shut from this all important part of every day living is regarded as an assault on fundamental human right issue.

Almost every thing technological, spanning from financial services to critical aspects of medical treatment, innovative services, travel etc are plugged into the internet. Therefore to deny citizens access to it is near unthinkable. It leads to agitation.

Citizens would protest, sign petitions and make demands.

Well, it happened in Tonga.

Starlink internet service is something new, and disruptive to existing ways of doing things as of old. It is a space based service that is sweepingly far ahead of how things telecommunications used to work.

While citizens have seen its near instantaneous deployment, the government of Tonga is still waiting.

According to The Guardian, ”the island networks of Vava’u and Haʻapai were cut off on 29 June after damage to the undersea cable which connects internet services to the northern archipelagos. The government has said it is still waiting for the arrival of a repair vessel for the submarine cable”.

But will instant services requiring the internet wait?

That’s where governments are seen as lethargic and unhelpful.

“Starlink notified its users in Tonga on 10 July they had been directed by the country’s regulator to disable internet services to users.

“We will continue to work to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to turn on Starlink services in Tonga as soon as possible,” a note from the company to users in the region said.

Starlink – which is operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX – uses a network of over 4,500 satellites to deliver internet access to almost anywhere in the world”.

It is the third time in recent years that Tonga’s undersea internet cables have been damaged, plunging parts of the nation into digital darkness. In 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted, causing an “unprecedented disaster” and cutting off internet to the country.

After that incident Musk sent a number of terminals to Tonga to help restore communication. Since then the service has grown in popularity within Tonga”.

Starlink has become the window to the world when there is a disaster. Governments world over should try to be more innovative and helpful.

Further reading: