The APG (Asia Pacific Gateway) cable system suffered a failure on the S8 branch near Thailand at 1 p.m. on November 29, interrupting all international connections along this route.

According to an internet service provider (ISP) representative, the cause of the disruption remains unknown, and no repair schedule has been announced.

The AAE-1 (Asia-Africa-Europe 1) cable is also grappling with unresolved issues. A fault on the S1H5 branch, which connects Vietnam to Singapore, has delayed full restoration of the system’s capacity multiple times since May 2024.

Although repairs on the S1H3 branch connecting Cambodia and Vietnam were completed in September 2024, the S1H5 branch has missed three repair deadlines. The latest update suggests restoration might be completed by December 5.

Currently, two of Vietnam's five submarine cable systems, which handle a majority of the country’s international bandwidth, are experiencing problems. The extent of the impact varies among ISPs, depending on their reliance on the affected cables.

Vietnam operates five major international submarine cable systems: AAG, AAE-1, APG, SMW3, and IA. These cables provide over 20 Tbps of utilized bandwidth and 34 Tbps of total capacity, connecting to global hubs via six landing stations in Da Nang, Quy Nhon, and Vung Tau.

Approximately 90% of Vietnam’s international internet capacity connects to major hubs in Asia, with the remaining 10% linked to Europe and the Americas.

However, the submarine cable systems face significant challenges, averaging 15 incidents annually. Before 2022, repairs typically took 1-2 months per incident. Recently, repair times have extended further, causing greater disruptions.

To enhance the reliability and resilience of Vietnam’s international connectivity, the Ministry of Information and Communications is advancing its Digital Infrastructure Strategy.

By 2025, Vietnam plans to launch at least two new submarine cable systems and expand to eight additional systems by 2030. This will boost redundancy to meet the minimum “1+2” backup standard, ensuring sustainable, uninterrupted international communication and data exchange.

Van Anh