Elon Musk says he's waiting for "clear confirmation" before deciding whether SpaceX can help with Tonga's internet issues.
The eruption of an underwater volcano on January 15 triggered a sonic boom and tsunami and subsequently cut through a fibre-optic cable, meaning Tonga is no longer connected to the rest of the world.
And the Tesla and SpaceX founder has suggested they could send some of their Starlink terminals - which connect to the Starlink satellites in orbit and relay the user data to SpaceX's ground stations for communication with internet servers - to help with the situation.
In response to Reuters' report about the internet issues facing the people of the archipelago in the Pacific, Musk tweeted: "Could people from Tonga let us know if it is important for SpaceX to send over Starlink terminals?"
New Zealand politician Dr Shane Reti then revealed he had sent correspondents to Musk "immediately" to ask if he could do just that.
Alongside the letter, he wrote: "I guess Elon Musk can only say no and if you don't ask you don't know. After the Minister told me in a phone call on Monday that the telecommunications cable to Tonga was down I immediately sent a letter to Elon to see if he would contribute Starlink to the emergency."
However, the multi-billionaire appeared to suggest it could be too "hard" for them as they "don't have enough satellites with laser links."
He replied to Reti: "This is a hard thing for us to do right now, as we don’t have enough satellites with laser links and there are already geo sats that serve the Tonga region. That is why I’m asking for clear confirmation.
