Vietnam internet cable broken thrice in a year

Vietnam’s internet connection has been disrupted for days as the Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable broke down yet again.

An internet service provider confirmed a fault had been detected last Friday along the S1i branch of the AAG that connects Vietnam and Hong Kong, marking the third time the cable had been broken this year.

Meanwhile, the problem with the Asia Africa Europe (AAE-1) cable has yet to be fixed since detection last month.

With the two cables broken at the same time, internet users in Vietnam have faced lots of network congestion.

« My kid had to halt an online class tonight due to the lag, » said a woman named Phuong Minh in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem District on Monday.

Another Hanoi resident Vu Phong said he has faced obstacles watching movies online via an international streaming service.

Sources said until now, international business partners have not yet announced plans to repair the AAG line.

Between July to early October, the AAG had three problems along many different branches, affecting Vietnamese internet access. The latest problem had just been fixed on Oct. 10.

Since 2017, the AAG had broken down three-five times each year.

Vietnam has six submarine cable systems and a 120 gigabit channel that runs overland through China.

Connected in November 2009, the $560-million AAG handles more than 60 percent of the country’s international Internet traffic. The cable runs more than 20,000 kilometers (12,420 miles), connecting Southeast Asia with the U.S., passing through Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

As of January 2021, out of its population of over 96 million people, the number of internet users reached approximately 69 million, according to a global consumer survey by German data portal Statista.

By Luu Quy – VnExpress.net – October 26, 2021