Many remote areas in the South Pacific remained without telephone communications to the outside world, Telecom New Zealand said, three days after the loss of a satellite covering the area.
  
The $US73 million, Bermuda-registered Intelsat IS-804 Satellite covering several Pacific Islands and Scott Base in Antarctica moved out of alignment and was then lost on Saturday, it said.
  
Its loss left Scott Base, the Cook Islands, Western Samoa, American Samoa, Chatham Islands, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Vanuatu, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Tonga without communications to other countries.
  
Scott Base has access to emergency-only back-up services through the United States' McMurdo Base.
  
Communications were restored to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, Western Samoa and the Solomon Islands through alternative satellite options, said Telecom New Zealand, which rents capacity on the lost satellite.
  
Most of the other islands have local phone and data services but will be without international calling and data access until alternative arrangements can be made, spokeswoman Sarah Berry said in a statement.
  
Several other countries not serviced by Telecom were also affected but have other alternatives available, including New Caledonia, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, East Timor, Vietnam, Korea and Saipan.
  
"Telecom customers in New Zealand, along with customers of all other providers internationally will not be able to make calls or send data transmissions to those islands which have been isolated," Berry said.
  
Airline data circuits have also been affected which could lead to some flight delays to and from these locations.
  
"Some services out of New Zealand and Australia may also be partially affected to East Asian locations such as Vietnam and Beijing," Berry said.
  
Intelsat Ltd chief executive Conny Kullman said the satellite was not insured.
  
The company however remained committed to the region "and all necessary effort and assets will be allocated to ensure Intelsat satellite coverage throughout the Asia-Pacific region", he said.