On Tuesday, an Internet service provider in Vietnam reported that the country’s last operational undersea cable was experiencing malfunctions. Local media sources indicate that a segment of the SMW3 cable, which links Vietnam and Singapore, is experiencing problems.
With this latest issue, all five of the undersea cables that facilitate Vietnam’s international Internet connections are currently malfunctioning. Four of these cables have been inoperative since November and are still not functioning.
Of the four malfunctioning cables, the AAG and APG cables have lost all data, while the IA and AAE-1 cables are only partially functional. However, Internet service providers have stated that the SMW-3 issue is unlikely to have a significant impact on Vietnam’s Internet connection. This is because the cable is old and not heavily utilized, and providers had already acquired additional data prior to the problem arising.
A representative of VNPT stated that “This incident would not impact the quality of the Internet connection, as it’s an old cable that’s expected to be decommissioned soon. We don’t use the data running on this cable for fixed broadband Internet services.”
Vietnam’s international connectivity is facilitated by a number of undersea cable systems, which include the APG, AAG, IA, SMW3, and Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), as noted by the Vietnam Internet Association.
The APG spans over 10,400 kilometers beneath the Pacific Ocean, connecting Vietnam with mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore.
Meanwhile, the AAG is a 20,000-kilometer submarine communications cable system that links Southeast Asia with the U.S. mainland via Guam and Hawaii.
The IA, which has a total length of 6,800 kilometers, connects Internet users in Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan.
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Source: Vietnam Insider