Repairs to a cut on the submarine fiber cable system that had affected Internet connection in Vietnam for nearly a fortnight were completed on Sunday, three days earlier than expected.

Starting Sunday night, Internet connection from Vietnam to online services hosted by international servers has gone back to normal quality as the cut on the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) underwater cable system had been repaired off Vietnam’s southern coast, according to telecom firm FPT Telecom.

A connection check was carried out at 12:00 pm the same day, which yielded positive results 15 minutes later.

The cut on the AAG cable system connecting Vung Tau and Hong Kong was detected on July 15, at a location around 18km from the Vietnamese coastal city, and 19m below the sea surface.

It affected Internet access supplied by all service providers in the country, including FPT Telecom, Viettel, and VNPT, whose subscribers experienced disruption or slower speed, especially when using services hosted by servers outside Vietnam, for as long as 12 days.

The AAG operator started repair work on July 22, and had expected it to be completed at 11:00 am on July 30.

But repairs were finished three days ahead of schedule thanks to the extensive effort of the company.

In late November 2013, the AAG cable section between Vung Tau and Hong Kong was also cut off, resulting in Internet disruption that affected around 60 percent of the users in the Southeast Asian country.

The AAG is a 20,000-kilometer long submarine communications cable system, connecting Southeast Asia with the U.S. mainland, across the Pacific Ocean via Guam and Hawaii.

Development of the AAG cable system was funded at a cost of US$500 million by 19 partners, including Vietnam’s Viettel and VNPT.

The cable has encountered frequent breaks and outages since it was ready for service in late 2009.

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