Mr. Nguyen Tien Son, Director of Infrastructure Development (Telecommunications Bureau), said that the internet service quality has returned to normal after network providers purchased more terrestrial fiber optic capacity to connect internationally.
As soon as the incident with the 5 undersea fiber optic cables occurred, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) urgently met with telecommunications companies that owned capacity on the cables to discuss measures to ensure the quality of telecommunications and international internet connections. To support emergency response before the completion of additional capacity procedures, companies shared international connectivity capacity with each other while also urgently purchasing more international fiber optic capacity on land.
The MIC also required telecommunications companies to ensure a minimum of 10% backup capacity to maintain the stability of telecommunications and international internet services provided to customers and quickly cooperate with international partners to restore undersea fiber optic cables.
This cable incident not only affected Vietnam but also other countries in the region. Therefore, increasing international capacity has encountered difficulties as many countries are also trying to connect domestic capacity to different cable routes. However, the MIC directed companies to be proactive and combine multiple measures to purchase more terrestrial fiber optic capacity to connect internationally.
According to the Telecommunications Bureau’s monitoring, Viettel and VNPT customers sometimes experience slightly slower speeds during peak hours compared to before the undersea fiber optic cable incident, but there is no congestion. Networks such as MobiFone or FPT Telecom have relatively safe backup levels to ensure that telecommunications and international internet service quality is nearly unaffected compared to before the incident.
The Telecommunications Bureau has worked with telecommunications companies to continue implementing risk management plans for the present and future to ensure service quality for customers. They are also developing a plan for Vietnam’s undersea fiber optic cable routes, promoting the rapid connection of some undersea fiber optic cables to ensure Vietnam’s leading and controlling role.
Currently, 4 out of 5 undersea fiber optic cables have scheduled maintenance. Specifically, the incident on branch S6 of the APG cable will be resolved from March 22, 2023 to March 27, 2023. The error on branch S9, which connects to Singapore and Japan, will be repaired from April 5, 2023 to April 9, 2023. The incidents that occurred on the AAG cable in February 2022 and June 2022 will be addressed from February 26, 2023 to April 15, 2023. The incident on the IA cable, which connects to Singapore, is expected to be repaired from April 5 to April 13, 2023. It is anticipated that by mid-April to early May, international internet capacity will be fully restored.
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Source: Vietnam Insider