The Solomon Islands Submarine Cable Company in a public post says cable repairs nearing completion.
On 10 May 2023, a Taiwanese purse seine fishing boat dropped its anchor near Honaira port, destroying the domestic network cable, connecting Malaita, Western and Choiseul provinces.
Efforts to repair the country’s domestic cable are nearing completion, with the CS Lodbrog conducting a thorough assessment of damages upon its arrival on 19th July. Repair work is underway to address the issues caused when a Taiwanese purse seine fishing boat dropped anchor in a designated no-anchoring zone near the cable landing site, close to Honiara Port, on May 10. The incident led to significant interruptions in broadband, mobile, and landline services, severely impacting the provinces of Auki in Malaita, Noro in Western Province, and Taro in Choiseul Province.
Residents in these provinces faced various challenges during the outages, including disruptions in banking services, communication, and electricity. Service providers worked diligently to find alternative solutions and restore internet services for their customers during this trying period. Our Telekom, successfully collaborated with Kacific to bring back services to its affected customers through the deployment of temporary satellite capacity. Kacific swiftly set up the necessary infrastructure, offering a digital lifeline through a short-term satellite connectivity solution, utilizing its Kacific1 satellite, with a capacity of 600 Mbps.
The incident caused substantial financial losses for the Solomon Islands Submarine Cable Company. Consequently, the owners of the vessel responsible for damaging the Coral Sea subsea cable in the Solomon Islands are expected to face legal charges for their actions. Current estimate for the repair to be completed is late on 25th July.
