Satellite

An international team of researchers demonstrated an air pressure wave triggered by volcanic eruptions could produce an "equatorial plasma bubble".

An equatorial plasma bubble, or EPB, is a hole formed in the equatorial areas of the ionosphere, which severely disrupts satellite-based communications.

It can delay radio waves as well as degrade the performance of GPS.

Satellite operator Kacific Broadband Satellites said it had signed a 15-year agreement with the state-owned Tonga Satellite.

It would connect communities in nearly 90 remote outer islands with high speed internet, Kacific said.

Kacific chief executive Christian Patouraux said until now, rural areas depended on urban centres to distribute bandwidth to them.

"With Kacific's solution for Tonga, urban centres need rural and remote areas in reciprocal cooperation to complete the urban infrastructure build up," he said.

The critical investment by Australia saw its Foreign Affairs Minister, Marise Payne, join PNG’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rimbink Pato, yesterday for the event.

Payne said the new system will benefit Papua New Guineans by reducing barriers to learning, improving private sector capacity and fostering job creation in the long term.

“In the near term, the project will boost connectivity for APEC meetings in Port Moresby in November,” she stated.