Tonga Volcano Highlights Global Undersea Cable Network Fragility

If your disaster preparedness plans had a check box for oceanic cable traffic disruption due to an undersea volcano, bravo. Bet the lottery this week. Most of the world was caught off guard Fortunately, the impact on international internet traffic was minimal on a global scale. Locally, communications with Tonga are disrupted as regular phone lines are down, and the internet cable from Fiji to Tonga seems to have been damaged. To that point, the cable service that is the only connection between Tonga and the outside world is out. Authorities and operators did not switch it off or disconnect it. The implication is that the volcanic blast and its aftermath cut the fiber-optic cable connecting Tonga to the rest of the world.

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