Loss of satellite cuts Antarctic and Pacific communications

The "total loss" of a US$73 million ($106.19 million) satellite on Saturday morning left several Pacific Islands and Scott Base in Antarctica without telephone communications to the outside world.

The Bermuda-registered Intelsat IS-804 Satellite, on which Telecom New Zealand rents capacity, moved out of alignment and was lost at 11.32am on Saturday, leaving Scott Base, the Cook Islands, Western Samoa, American Samoa, Chatham Islands, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Vanuatu, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Tonga without communications to other countries.

Scott Base has access to emergency-only back-up services through the United States' McMurdo Base.

Telecom says communications have since been restored to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, Western Samoa and Solomon Islands through alternative satellite options.

Most of the islands still without satellite services have local phone and data services but will be without international calling and data access until alternative arrangements can be made, Telecom spokeswoman Sarah Berry said in a statement.

Several other countries not serviced by Telecom were also affected but have alternatives available.

New Caledonia, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, East Timor, Vietnam, Korea and Saipan were among those with alternative arrangements.

"Telecom customers in New Zealand, along with customers of all other providers internationally will not be able to make calls or send data transmissions to those islands which have been isolated," Ms Berry said.

"Bank services, eftpos services, Reuters, and airline data circuits have also been impacted and this could lead to some flight delays to and from these locations.

"Some services out of New Zealand and Australia may also be partially affected to east Asian locations such as Vietnam and Beijing."

Prime Minister Helen Clark and several other MPs are due to travel to the Chatham Islands on Thursday for official engagements on Friday.

A spokeswoman for Miss Clark's office told NZPA they were planning for the trip to go ahead.

Intelsat Ltd CEO Conny Kullman said the satellite was not insured. "The loss of a satellite is an extremely rare event for us, and our first priority must be restoration of service to our customers.

"Intelsat remains firmly committed to the region that was covered by IS-804, and all necessary effort and assets will be allocated to ensure Intelsat satellite coverage throughout the Asia-Pacific region."

- NZPA