This article is about communications systems in

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Telephone

Main lines in use: 14,697 (2018) Telephones - mobile cellular: 107,938 (2018) Telephone system: Fixed PSTN, GSM 900 Main Island has 4G mobile.
''domestic:'' NA
''international:''

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

earth station - 2 Intelsat (

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

))

Radio

Broadcast stations: AM 1 (2005), FM 5 (2005), shortwave 1 (1998) Radios: 61,000 (1997)

Television

Broadcast stations: 4 (2005) Televisions: 2,000 (1997) In April 2002 the Tongasat company started its own satellite telecommunication service when it obtained the Esiafi 1 (former private American Comstar D4) satellite (launched in 1981) that was moved to Tonga's own geostationary point.

Internet

Internet Service Provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...

s (ISPs): 2 (2005)

Country code Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes (geocodes) developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The term ...

(Top level domain):

.to .to is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) of the island kingdom of Tonga. The government of Tonga sells domains in its ccTLD to any interested party. The .to ccTLD is administered by the Tonga Network Information Center (Tonic). ...

Broadband internet communication is provided by the

Tonga Cable System Tonga Cable System is a submarine fiber-optic cable system connecting Tonga with Fiji, where it connects to other international networks. It is long and was activated in 2013. It has cable landing points at Sopu, a suburb of Nukuʻalofa in Tong ...

that went online in April 2018. On 15 January 2022, following a volcanic eruption on the island of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, the Tonga Cable System was severed, leaving the country without Internet access. Using a satellite dish at the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the go ...

, the telecommunications company

Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Suriname, a ...

is providing limited 2G coverage to the island of Tongatapu, as well as giving residents free SIM cards.

Newspapers

Until 2002, the Auckland-based Pasifika Times was also circulated in Niue.

Notes

{{Tonga-stub