Image: Kacific CEO and founder, Christian Patouraux, and STCL CEO, Christina Lasaqa.
Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) reinforced its established partnership with Solomon Telekom Company Limited by restoring connectivity to STCL’s affected customers after damage to the nation’s domestic undersea submarine cable links operated by the Solomon Islands Submarine Cable Company (SISCC).
Solomon Islands’ internet submarine cable was damaged on 10 May when a foreign-flagged vessel dropped its anchor on it, impacting telecommunications services in the provincial centres of Auki on Malaita, Noro in
Western Province, and Taro in Choiseul Province.
Kacific says it was the first provider to respond, offering support within two days after the incident and delivering additional temporary satellite capacity to enable broadband, mobile and landline services for a significant portion of the country.
Kacific says it swiftly set up the necessary infrastructure and provided the island nation with a digital lifeline through a short-term satellite connectivity solution of 600Mbps on its Kacific1 satellite.
“Our technical teams have been working tirelessly to restore the services, and we have made significant progress,” said Christina Lasaqa, Chief Executive Officer at Solomon Telekom Company Limited. “However, as
repairs are expected to take six to eight weeks, the urgency of the situation required immediate action, and we are grateful for Kacific’s responsive support. Thanks to Kacific’s readiness to support and their rapid deployment of terminals, we can ensure that
our customers have access to essential services during this challenging period.”
“We quickly acknowledged the challenges that Solomon Telekom was facing with the cable outage, and we understood the urgency of restoring services as fast as possible,” said Christian Patouraux, Kacific CEO and founder. “From the very outset, Solomon Telekom has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our partnership. We’re proud to extend our support, providing efficient satellite solutions to reconnect communities at this crucial time promptly.”
“As undersea cable incidents happen quite often in the Pacific, they serve as a stark reminder of the importance of having dependable backup solutions in place,” he added. “It’s important to foster meaningful partnerships
to ensure that Pacific nations will not be cut off from the world, with resilient and reliable connections that safeguard against such disruptions.”
Fixed-line services in Auki and fixed-line and mobile 2G services in Taro have been restored. Additionally, all mobile 2G services in Western Province are now fully operational,
and work is progressing to restore 3G services.
