The affected districts of Mimika, Asmat, Mappi, Dogiyai, Paniai, Deiyai, Waropen, Nabire, and the Aru Islands are now back online, the company said on Wednesday.
"The repair of the Dobo-Tual backup link has restored services to normal in all nine areas," General Manager for Telkomsel's Maluku and Papua Operations Yasrinaldi in a statement from Jayapura, Papua Province.
Repairs are still underway for another section of the undersea cable connecting Timika and Merauke, which also suffered damage, he said.
A Telkom repair vessel is expected to arrive at the site by August 27 to begin temporary restoration.
Broadband and IndiHome fixed-line internet services in Merauke, Boven Digoel, and Kaimana are expected to return to normal by early September, Yasrinaldi said.
To compensate affected users, Telkomsel is offering prepaid customers replacement data for unused internet during the outage.
Postpaid users of IndiHome and Kartu Halo will receive prorated billing discounts based on the duration of the service disruption.
In addition, the company has made available emergency communication support in affected areas — 1,000 SMS and 60 minutes of calls at Rp1, accessible via UMB *888*20#.
The disruption, first reported on August 16, was caused by a double shunt fault in the undersea cable connecting Sorong and Merauke, with damage detected at depths ranging from 50 to 500 meters.
Telkomsel said it is committed to maintaining service quality and will continue to update customers as repair efforts progress.
ANTARA has reported recurring disruptions to telecommunications services in Papua in recent years.
In 2021, for example, PT Telkom experienced a break in its undersea fiber optic cable about 700 kilometers off the coast of Sarmi District, Papua Province.
The incident disrupted services in Jayapura City as well as the districts of Jayapura and Sarmi. However, customers in the southern parts of the province were not affected.
Related news: Telkom to repair damaged submarine cable disrupting Papua networks
Related news: Telkomsel says double shunt fault disrupts broadband services in Papua
Translator: Qadri P, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Primayanti
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