Hanoi (VNA)♍ - Telecommunication firms have committed that Vietnam’s international Internet connections will no longer be “stagnant” from the evening of February 10.

The commitment was reached at a meeting held on the same day between the Ministry of Information and Communications and telecommunication firms regarding issues with undersea cables and ensuring Vietnam’s international Internet connections. In late January, four undersea cable routes that Vietnamese carriers exploit, including AAG, APG, AAE-1 and IA, encountered problems. This is the first time the Vietnamese telecommunication firms experienced such an incident when the highest number of submarine fiber optic cables failed. The incident affected both Vietnam and the Asia region. Among them, the two undersea internet cables of AAG and APG lost all their data and the submarine fiber optic cables of IA and AAE-1 remained only partly operational. At the meeting, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung emphasised the need to ensure the quality of services provided to users and help economic activities connect smoothly. As multiple subsea cables encountered issues at the same time and affected Vietnam’s Internet connections, telecom firms must support each other during the difficult time, Hung said. "If stagnation is still a problem despite technical interventions, businesses with spare data will share their international Internet connections with businesses without enough data to ensure quality of service," he added. Hung asked telecommunication firms to open up more Internet connection pathways on land and apply technical measures to assure connections between Vietnam and the world. It is necessary for providers to make sure that customers’ actual data usage during peak hours must never exceed 90% of the international data amount that service providers can afford, he went on. The steering committee for handling the undersea cables-related incident was requested to coordinate with telecommunication firms to prepare for situations when cables encounter problems again so there can be plans to ensure stable international Internet connections. Hung assigned the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority to work with telecom companies to develop a plan for Vietnam's undersea fiber optic cable routes, and lay more Vietnam-owned Internet cables connecting to international networks. It is expected that Vietnam could be connected to 10 cables by 2025, he added. Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long also emphasised the need for Vietnamese enterprises to join hands in deploying more undersea fiber optic cables to meet the development demand and ensure Vietnam's Internet connections. Nguyen Nam Long, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), said that the provider was actively deploying measures, including working with partners to open more data flows on land as well as optimising traffic to ensure international internet connections to its consumers. Similar moves were also conducted by other providers, namely Viettel, MobiFone and FPT, to offer the best service quality. Representatives of MobiFone and FPT said that they will collaborate with the MIC and other telecommunications companies to develop a plan for undersea fiber optic cables as well as invest in undersea fiber optic cables built by Vietnam.

According to the Vietnam Internet Association, international connections in Vietnam rely on multiple submarine cable systems, namely the APG, AAG, IA, SMW3, and Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1).

🉐 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 (China), Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The 6,800km IA cable, which transfers data between Vietnam 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./.