State-owned Telkom Indonesia said that it is set to carry out repairs on a damaged subsea cable that has disrupted internet connectivity in South and Central Papua since Saturday.
According to a report from the official Antara news agency, the repair will be implemented in two phases, with the first carrying out a temporary fix, while the second will be permanent.
Under the first phase, Telkom will send a vessel sent from Makassar Port to assess the cable's condition and the location of the break, after which new cables will be loaded, tested and reconnected.
Telkom Regional V executive VP Amin Soebagyo told Antara that internet communications in South and Central Papua should return to normal for after the first phase, which should be completed during the first week of September.
That said, the second phase will cause temporary service disruptions on the first day of permanent repairs, and again during the last two days. Telkom expects all repairs to be completed by the third week of September, the report said.
No reason has been given for the cause of the break. The report also didn’t specify which subsea system was damaged. However, Telkom owns the SMPCS Packet-2 system that runs along the north, west and south coasts of Papua and has been in service since 2015.
The only other subsea system connecting South and Central Papua is Palapa Ring East, which was completed by Palapa Timur Telematika, a subsidiary of fixed broadband provider Mora Telematika Indonesia (Moratelindo), in 2019.
