SES has announced the 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 fiber outage last week.
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.
Photo of Tonga is courtesy of SES.
Connectivity in the Polynesian country was disrupted when the Tonga Cable System, an 827-kilometre-long fiber optic submarine cable that links Sopu in Tonga and Suva in Fiji, was cut in two places on January 20. 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.
Executive Comments
Imran Malik Khan, VP, Global Fixed Data Sales at SES Networks, stated the company is 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. SES Networks has worked closely together with Digicel in the past in the Asia Pacific region, and now, together, the SES Signature Telecom Solution was implemented in record time in Tonga, helping the Tongan people get back online while efforts to repair the Tonga Cable System cable are underway.
Francis Thomsen, CEO at Digicel Tonga, noted that the company's job is to ensure that customers are as connected as possible. The firm has been hugely helped in accomplishing that goal by SES Networks who provided a reliable and flexible solution that could help the comapny overcome the challenges faced when trying to get the mobile networks and broadband access up and running where and when needed in the shortest possible time. The company's 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.
