Vietnamese military-run telecom giant Viettel has commenced using the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) submarine communications cable system since early July.

A schematic diagram of the AAE-1submarine cable system.

Previously, all domestic transmission infrastructures (stations, fiber optic systems and relevant equipment) were completed and were ready to be connected to AAE-1 into Viettel’s network.

In late June, the AAE-1 cable project management board announced that the fiber optic cable system was officially completed and ready for service. The 23,000 km submarine communications system is the first connecting Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe with the lowest connection latency among these areas.

The AAE-1 is connected to the world's largest data centres such as Telecom House in Hongkong (China), Equinix and Global Switch in Singapore, and Interxion Marseille - MRS1 and MRS2 in France.

With various branch points, the system connects Hong Kong (China), Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France.

The total investment capital of the project is about US$820 million with investment from 19 partners in 19 countries, including China Unicom, PCCW Global, Viettel, VNPT, Metfone, CIL, TOT, GT5L, PTCL, Reliance Jio, Omantel, Ooredoo, Etisalat, Tele Yemen, Mobily, Djibouti Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Oteglobe and Retelit.

The AAE-1 uses 100Gbps DWDM-based wavelength technology with a design capacity of over 40 terabits (equivalent to 80 100Gbps wavelengths) and can be upgraded to latest wavelength-matching technologies in the future.

AAE-1 is the fourth submarine cable system to be invested by Viettel, including AAG, IA, APG, and AAE-1. Total investment figure pledged by Viettel for the project is US$50 million; the telecom network is the only local partner to host the cable landing station in Vietnam with a capacity of 2.5Tbps.

AAE-1 project is expected to contribute to meet the increasing demand for international transmission capacity of Viettel, while enhancing safety and capacity in case of incidents for Viettel's international transmission network (sharing the load with other submarine cable systems owned by Viettel such as AAG, IA, APG).

It also contributes to the development of Vietnam's international telecommunication networks and prevents information isolation with other countries, thereby boosting the nation’s socio-economic development and accelerating globalisation and international economic integration.

Nhan Dan