A report by U.S. cloud computing services provider Akamai on the Internet in last year’s quarter three says Internet speed in Vietnam was the second slowest in Asia-Pacific after India.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong had the fastest Internet connection, followed by Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and China.

According to the report, the average Internet connection speed in Vietnam was 2.5 Mbps in the third quarter of last year, down 12% quarter-on-quarter, while the highest speed to be recorded was 16.6 Mbps.

Compared to the same period of 2013, the average and the highest speeds in Vietnam inched up, with respective increases of 22% and 38%.

Such figures were calculated based on different kinds of Internet connection channels like mobile and ADSL broadband Internet.

Regarding high-speed broadband Internet, the Philippines and Vietnam stood at the bottom of the list as the use rates were less than 1%. Meanwhile, with mobile Internet connection, Vietnam was at the bottom with the average speed of 1.1 Mbps and the highest of 7.9 Mbps.

The Ministry of Information and Communications issued criteria to assess Internet services many years ago. The requirements for 3G Internet were issued recently and will become effective next March.

Deputy Minister Le Nam Thang told the Daily that such criteria were based on the standards of the International Communication Union. Compared to other countries, the Internet quality in Vietnam may be lower, he added.

According to experts, rapid or slow Internet connections reflect the economic development of a country. As Vietnam’s economy is less developed than regional countries, Internet access in Vietnam is slower too.

Int’l Internet traffic back to normal this Saturday

* Normal access to international Internet services such as Facebook and YouTube will resume this Saturday, one day later than initially anticipated.

Vietnam’s international Internet traffic has been affected in the past two weeks as the Asia-America Gateway (AAG), which accounts for 60-70% of international Internet traffic of the nation, broke off the coast of Vung Tau City on January 5.

The break of this undersea cable system has slowed international Internet traffic of many Internet services providers in Vietnam. Vietnamese Internet firms said they have been using backup overland cable lines or other submarine cable lines to minimize impact on customers.