The Tonga-Fiji Submarine Cable System (also known as Tonga Cable) is a 827km fiber optic submarine cable system linking Nuku'alofa, Tonga and Suva, Fiji, and connects to the Southern Cross Cable Network at the Suva Cable Landing Station in Fiji.

The Tonga-Fiji Submarine Cable System is owned and operated by the state-owned Tonga Cable Limited (TCL), which was set up in 2011 to develop, and manage the submarine cable with financing support by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.

According to ADB report, the total project cost was estimated at $32.8 million, with ADB contributing $9.7 million, the World Bank $16.5 million, and the government $6.6 million. Total investment costs equaled $32.4 million and consisted of civil works ($4.2 million), procurement of the submarine cable system (estimated at $26.2 million), consulting services ($1.2 million), and taxes and duties ($0.8 million). Recurrent costs totaled $0.4 million, consisting of salaries, office space, and equipment operation and maintenance.

TCL signed a single (turnkey) contract valued at $18.8 million to install the international cable between Tonga and Fiji—lower than the estimated contract value of $26.2 million. By project completion, the final contract value had increased to $21.4 million to cover the purchase of additional cable equipment needed for installation. The original works were completed on time and within budget, with a saving of $4.58 million, of which 49.9% ($2.28 million) was ADB’s and 50.1% ($2.29 million) the World Bank’s.

The Tonga-Fiji Submarine Cable System is supplied by ASN, ready for service on 21 August 2013.

Tonga Domestic Cable Extension (TDCE)

With the saving of $4.58 million and additional fund of $7.0million by the Tonga Government, the Tonga Cable was extended domestically from Tonga Isaland to Vava’u (additional 348 km) and Ha’apai (a further 58 km), at a total cost of about $11.0 million. To fund the Tong Domestic Cable Extension (TDCE), the government of Tonga sold 16.7% of TCL shares to Digicel Tonga Limited (Digicel) for $4.2 million. The Tonga Domestic Cable Extension was also supplied by ASN and ready for service in January 2018.

Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC) and Digicel Tonga Limited  are leading operators in Tonga.

TCC is a state-owned enterprise (SOE), provides fixed line, mobile and internet services in Tonga. 

Digicel Tonga Limited is part of Digicel Pacific Limited (DPL), wholly-owned subsidiary of Digicel Group Holdings Limited (DGHL) which operates in 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and Pacific. In October 2021, Telstra acquired Digicel Pacific Limited for US$1.85 billion.