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Papua New Guinea earthquake disrupts internet service: DataCo

Papua New Guinea earthquake disrupts internet service: DataCo

Papua New Guinea’s state-owned telecoms network wholesaler PNG DataCo says that internet services in the southeastern towns of Popondetta and Alotau have been disrupted due to a subsea cable break likely caused by an earthquake on Tuesday.

According to a statement from DataCo posted to social media on Wednesday, the operator reported a network operational failure on its Kumul Submarine Cable Network (KSCN) subsea cable link between Madang and Alotau.

The fault occurred following a 6.6 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday near Lae, Papua New Guinea’s second largest city, which sits between Madang and Alotau.

DataCo said its engineers are investigating the fault and its location to restore the affected link. The operator also advised its ISP customers to utilize redundant links if available until service is fully restored.

The earthquake also knocked out internet services in New Guinea Islands, Momase and the Highlands, although DataCo said in its statement that all of those links had been restored and stabilised by Wednesday morning.

DataCo experienced similar problems in 2022 after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake resulted in “multiple breakages” in the KSCN cable system outside of Madang.



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