Elon Musk Setting Up Starlink Gateway Station in Fiji to Provide Internet Connection to Tonga After Volcanic Eruption

Elon Musk's engineers are setting up a Starlink station in Fiji to help Tonga get back online after the Pacific island lost connection due to the great volcanic eruption and tsunami that happened last month. Residents of the island have lived with no or limited access to the web weeks after officials discovered that repairing the undersea cables was proving to be more difficult than expected.

Musk previously showed interest in helping Tonga get back online by asking people on Twitter whether residents would want a Starlink terminal. Starlink works by creating a mesh of networks in orbit that users within range can connect using a specialized dish and terminal.

(Photo : Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIME)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 13: Elon Musk attends TIME Person of the Year on December 13, 2021 in New York City.

The Aftermath of the Volcanic Eruption in Tonga

Tonga may have avoided the deadly COVID-19 pandemic for two years, but it was not able to dodge the volcanic eruption and tsunami that hit the Pacific island last month.

The Associated Press reported that due to recent events, the island is now fighting an outbreak of COVID-19 after the virus was brought by foreign military crews aboard ships and planes that delivered crucial aid after the natural disaster that hit them.

Many people were displaced by the aftermath of the eruption and tsunami, and now their already fragile health care system has caused major concern given the isolation of its islands.

Katie Greenwood, the head of delegation in the Pacific for the International Red Cross, told AP that resourcing health care facilities in communities are challenging enough but is more difficult in remote locations like Tonga. She added that COVID-19 has presented a new threat to the health care system of the island, especially to vulnerable people who may not have access to the care they need.

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Elon Musk Aims to Reconnect Tongo Online

Aside from the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Tonga, many of its residents are in lockdown because their communication lines are severely restricted due to the severed underwater cable. But Elon Musk has offered to help restore online connectivity to the Pacific Island nation of Tonga, Reuters reported.

Fiji's Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that a SpaceX team is now in Fiji to establish a Starlink gateway station to help reconnect Tonga online so that residents could also reconnect to the world.

Starlink is one of Musk's companies under his SpaceX aerospace company which offers internet connectivity to even the most remote areas of the world. After the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption that triggered the tsunami, the villages were destroyed and left the nation's capital under ash, cutting the sole fiber optic communications that connect the island online.

The Fijian Broadcasting Corporation cited Sayed-Khaiyum's announcement and said that Musk's engineers would operate a ground station in Fiji for six months. As of now, SpaceX has not released any official statement regarding this move. Meanwhile, the prime minister of Tonga's office and state telecom has remained unreachable by phone or email.

Meanwhile, Refinitiv shopping data showed that the cable repair ship Reliance has been on the coast of the main island of Tonga for almost a week now to fix the damaged undersea cable.

Regardless of which could come first, any improvement in communications will be a relief for the residents in Tonga who have struggled to stay in touch with family and friends abroad.