Two submarine fiber optic cables have the same fault, international internet is unstable

Since the morning of January 3, Pham Thu Phuong, a communications specialist at a multinational company, said her online meetings have been constantly interrupted due to weak connection. She has tried everything from turning off the Wi-Fi modem, restarting the computer to calling the network operator to complain, but the problem has not been resolved.

"The operator of the network operator confirmed that they did not reduce the transmission speed but did not explain clearly the reason for the weak network. This person said that this is a common situation and the network operator is looking for a solution," Phuong said.

Vietnamese users experience intermittent problems when connecting to international internet

Phuong is not the only one who has had problems with international internet connections. On January 3, many users reported that they were constantly experiencing "internet drops", slow page loading, and prolonged lag. Some people suddenly lost connection for no apparent reason.

A representative of an internet service provider (ISP) in Vietnam confirmed that after the AAE-1 submarine cable was repaired, Vietnam has two other fiber optic cables with errors at the same time, APG and IA.

Meanwhile, AAE-1 connecting Vietnam's internet to Hong Kong (China) and Singapore has been restored. The APG submarine cable is having problems on two branches S1.9 connecting Vietnam's internet to Malaysia and branch S8 connecting to Thailand. The problem on branch S8 is expected to be fixed from January 6 to January 10. The problem on branch S1.9 has not yet been fixed.

The IA line has been experiencing problems since December 26, 2024 on the S1 branch, with the segment from Vietnam to Singapore still losing all internet connection capacity between Vietnam and Hong Kong and Singapore. A week after the incident, international partners have yet to provide a specific schedule for troubleshooting.

Two submarine fiber optic cables connecting Vietnam's internet to international destinations are both faulty.

Vietnam IPS is operating 5 international submarine cable lines including AAG, AAE-1, APG, IA and SMW3 with a total usable capacity of more than 20 Tbps, and a total available capacity of 34 Tbps. The simultaneous failure of 2/5 submarine cable lines has reduced the capacity and transmission speed of Vietnam's international internet, directly affecting people's activities.

According to statistics, on average, each year the submarine fiber optic cables in use in Vietnam have problems about 15 times.

Previously, in February 2023, there was a period when all 5 submarine optical cables had problems, causing Vietnam's international internet connection to lose 75% of its capacity. At that time, network operators had to buy additional capacity in the mainland direction to ensure basic user needs.

When there is an incident related to a broken cable, in addition to working with international partners to find ways to repair and fix it, the network operator must also intervene with many technical measures such as sharing the load to other connection directions or via land cables.

To ensure smooth internet connection, in October 2024, the Government approved the Vietnam Digital Infrastructure Strategy, with the goal that by 2025, Vietnam will exploit at least 2 new submarine fiber optic cable lines. By 2030, at least 8 submarine fiber optic cable lines can be added.

It is expected that the newly invested ADC submarine cable line can begin operation in early 2025. This is the newest submarine cable line in the intra-Asian region, with a length of nearly 10,000 km and an initial total capacity of more than 160 Tbps. When officially put into operation, ADC will be the submarine cable line with the largest capacity in Vietnam, double that of the current largest cable line, AAE-1.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hai-tuyen-cap-quang-bien-cung-loi-internet-di-quoc-te-chap-chon-185250103230731423.htm