Residents and visitors of the island of Hiddensee have not been able to make calls or surf the Internet for two days due to a severed submarine cable. Technicians try to fix the problem.
Hiddensee – Two days after a sea cable was severed during construction work, the Baltic Sea holiday island of Hiddensee is still largely cut off from telephone and internet.
Technicians would now try to activate a second cable that is currently not in use, Hiddensee Mayor Thomas Gens told the German Press Agency. According to a spokeswoman for the Vorpommern-Rügen district, the aim is for telecommunications to be up and running again on Saturday afternoon.
About 1000 people live on Hiddensee. There are also vacationers. He couldn’t say how many are currently on the island, said Gens, who was on the island’s dike on his mobile phone. Because of the proximity to Rügen, there is only halfway reception there.
Significant impact
Hiddensee is currently very well booked for winter, said the mayor. So far there have been no complaints. Since Hiddensee is small, complaints would be possible in person if there was a short walk, even without a telephone and internet.
According to the mayor, the effects of the severed submarine cable are significant. Neither the emergency call nor the ATM worked on the island. You cannot pay by card at the checkout because the data cannot be transferred to the mainland. After all, the municipal office has mobile internet. Most people still had radio and television via a satellite dish. The submarine cable had been destroyed during the laying of a new broadband cable. dpa
