Internet slows in Vietnam as undersea cables encounter problems

Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Three international undersea cable lines that make up the majority of Internet connection capacity from Vietnam to the world have encountered problems, resulting in sluggish Internet speed across the country, according to operators.

A network operator said that an error had been detected on Intra Asia (IA) cable line and the problem is expected to be settled by the end of this month.

The incident has added to Vietnam's recent internet woes. Two other undersea cables, the Asia Pacific Gateway (APG) and Asia America Gateway (AAG), also experienced problemss and are being repaired. The mending for the AAG is expected to be completed by mid-March.

International connection in Vietnam relies on multiple submarine cable systems, namely the APG, AAG, IA, SMW3, and Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), according to the Vietnam Internet Association.

The APG cable, officially launched in December 2016, is capable of providing bandwidths of up to 54 Tbps (Terabit per second). It runs for around 10,400 km, with connection points in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The 6,800km IA cable, which transfers data between Vietnam and and Europe, North America and South America, began operations in November 2009.

With a length of 20,191 km, the AAG route connects Southeast Asia with the US./.