The Telecommunications Authority says four faulty submarine cable routes will be restored in May, with the remaining route expected to be repaired next month.
According to reports submitted by internet service providers (ISPs) to the Authority of Telecommunications, as of 3 May the IA and SMW3 cables had completed repairs and returned to normal operation. The AAE-1 and AAG cables are expected to be repaired within May, and the APG cable in June.
At a meeting last weekend, Nguyen Thanh Phuc, Director of the Telecommunications Authority, said the problems affecting all five cables were "a force majeure incident affecting every country that uses these routes". Immediately after the incident, the Ministry of Information and Communications directed domestic operators to work with the other members of the submarine cable consortiums to take measurements, pinpoint the fault locations and identify repair options.
Vietnamese network operators have also proposed a range of mitigation measures — traffic regulation, load shedding, ensuring international bandwidth, prioritizing capacity by time slot, and purchasing additional overland capacity. "Based on our monitoring, the user experience is now relatively stable and meets requirements," said Mr. Phúc.
According to Speedtest figures through the end of March, Vietnam's fixed broadband speed reached 91.24 Mbps, ranking 40th in the world.
The Ministry of Information and Communications treats digital infrastructure as critical infrastructure for the digital economy, which makes resilience one of its stated criteria. According to the Authority of Telecommunications, Vietnam expects to add 4 to 6 new submarine fiber-optic cable routes by 2030.
Vietnam's Internet currently connects through five submarine fiber-optic cables — APG, AAP, AAE-1, IA, and SMW-3 — with a combined capacity of 18.7 Tbps. Viettel says it will bring the ADC cable into service by the end of the year, while VNPT is participating in the SJC 2 cable; together with an additional 18 Tbps of capacity, this will multiply Vietnam's international connectivity many times over.
At its shareholders' meeting in late April, FPT Telecom also approved plans to invest in the ALC submarine cable project, becoming the next major Vietnamese carrier to join the submarine cable race.
