Phones reconnected in Tonga, internet will have to wait a month

A general view from a New Zealand Defence Force P-3K2 Orion surveillance flight shows heavy ash fall over Nomuka in Tonga after the Pacific island nation was hit by a tsunami triggered by an undersea volcanic eruption January 17, 2022. New Zealand Defence Force/Handout via REUTERS

Telephone links between Tonga and the wider world began to be reconnected on Wednesday, though restoring full internet connectivity is likely to take a month or more according to the owner of the archipelago's sole subsea communications cable.

The explosion of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which has killed at least three people and sent tsunami waves across the Pacific, knocked out communications around the nation of about 105,000 people on Saturday.