The Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai Eruption – A Postmortem: What happened to Tonga’s Internet in January 2022, and what lessons are there to be learned?

On January 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano burst into life in one of the most powerful volcanic explosions seen in recent history. Soon thereafter, the Kingdom of Tonga lost both its international and domestic submarine fibre cables. A small number of satellite phones and embassy communication facilities aside, communication with Tonga was lost entirely for days and was severely impacted for over a month, even after the establishment of a number of satellite links. This article reports on the effort to reconnect Tonga with the world, the obstacles faced, insights gained and lessons learned.