Had Offered Starlink To Restore Internet In Tonga, Elon Musk Finally Surrendered

The Starlink satellite can't be moved to Tonga. (photo: twitter)

JAKARTA - Elon Musk had offered his SpaceX Starlink satellite to restore internet to Tonga, which experienced internet disruptions after the volcanic eruption, January 15 last. But then he withdrew his offer shortly after making the statement.

Musk tweeted on Friday: 'People from Tonga tell us is it important for SpaceX to ship via Starlink terminal?'

Dr Shane Reti, a Whangarei-based MP, wrote to Musk shortly after hearing the proposal asking if his space-based internet could help Tongans.

Everything went according to plan until a few hours later Elon Musk broke the news again: 'This is a difficult thing for us to do right now.'

Musk says SpaceX doesn't have enough internet satellites to help Tongans, even though his company has 2,000 devices in Earth orbit.

Shortly after offering his help to bring the internet to life in Tonga, the billionaire tweeted: 'We don't have enough satellites with laser links and there is already a geo sat serving the Tonga region.'

Geo-satellite including tools for weather forecasting, satellite radio and television already fills Tonga. With the geo sats over Tonga, there's no room for Musk to move his Starlink there.

A Twitter user named Christina chimed in on the conversation, saying: 'Starlink needs a ground station so the satellites have internet access. But there is no possible earth station in Tonga because the submarine cable is damaged," he said.

Telephone links between Tonga and the wider world began reconnecting late Wednesday 19 January, although restoring full internet connectivity is likely to take a month or more, according to the owner of the islands' only underwater communications cable.

"Full network service will not be available until the submarine cable is repaired," Telecom operator Digicel said as quoted by Dailymail. "A technology specialist ship is aiming to depart from Port Moresby on a repair trip over the weekend," said Samiuela Fonua, Chief Owner of Cable Tonga Cable Ltd.

But with eight or nine days of sailing to collect equipment in Samoa, then an uncertain journey to faults in the eruption area, he said he would be 'lucky' to have the work done in just over a month.

“It could take longer than that,” he said by phone from Auckland, where he is coordinating repairs.

“The cable is actually around the volcanic zone. We don't know... if they were intact, or blown away, or stuck somewhere underwater. We don't know if it's buried any deeper," he said.