Over the past few days, while local services and apps in Vietnam have been running smoothly, some users have experienced unstable connections when accessing international services like loading content on Facebook, slow Gmail sending, or laggy YouTube playback.
Internet service providers (ISPs) in Vietnam confirmed to ICTnews that two of the five major submarine fiber optic cables carrying most of Vietnam’s international internet traffic are currently disrupted.
APG and AAE-1 are two of the five main submarine cables handling the majority of Vietnam’s international internet traffic, alongside AAG, IA, and SMW3. (Illustration)
So far, ISPs have not received any repair schedule for the AAE-1 cable. The Asia Africa Europe 1 (AAE-1) cable suffered a fault on the morning of May 26. The operator detected a voltage drop on the S1H branch of the cable, with an initial assessment indicating a partial fiber break on segment S1H.1.
Launched in July 2017, AAE-1 plays a key role in improving connections to Europe and the Middle East, while also adding capacity and backup routes to Hong Kong and Singapore.
The AAE-1 cable uses advanced technology with an optimized network of landing stations and connection points, giving ISPs flexible options to reroute traffic.
While the AAE-1 issue remains unresolved, another cable, APG, is undergoing scheduled maintenance on the Hong Kong route from midnight June 5 until 10 PM June 10, according to a Vietnamese ISP representative.
The Asia Pacific Gateway (APG) cable officially launched in mid-December 2016 after four years of development. With participation from four domestic carriers, APG is known for providing stable, high-capacity internet connections for Vietnam.
APG can deliver up to 54 Tbps bandwidth over its approximately 10,400 km length under the Pacific Ocean. It connects China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
With both AAE-1 and APG cables currently disrupted, Vietnamese ISPs have been balancing loads and rerouting traffic through other submarine and terrestrial cables to maintain service quality.
For example, CMC Telecom has increased capacity via the Southeast Asia cross-border cable (A-Grid), connecting Vietnam to Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
VNPT has proactively rerouted traffic to stable cables like CSC, AAG, IA, and SMW3.
VNPT also announced it is actively working with partners to thoroughly check and fix international internet connection issues.
Previously, at the end of last year, VNNIC shared with ICTnews that they have largely completed plans to ensure Vietnam’s internet can operate continuously even if international connections are lost. Part of this effort included bringing the root DNS servers to Vietnam in 2020 to reduce dependence on international networks.
“We recognize that the internet must be integrated globally, but we also need some independence in certain situations. So, we need technical systems to ensure the internet can operate independently without relying on international networks. For example, a submarine cable cut is an external event, but our network can still function independently,” a VNNIC representative explained.
