Three out of the five submarine Internet cable systems connecting Vietnam to the world are facing problems, seriously affecting users’ international connections, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Saturday, citing local Internet service providers (ISPs).

The Intra Asia (IA) cable system has encountered an incident on its S1 branch linked to Singapore, while previous issues on the Asia Pacific Gateway (APG) and Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) systems remain unresolved.

According to Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, the problem with the IA system occurred on Thursday, while the APG and AAE-1 systems experienced issues on March 10 and May 23, respectively.

The failure of these three cable systems has significantly impacted the speed of Vietnam’s international internet connections, causing difficulties for users accessing websites and network services with servers located abroad.

However, access to websites and services with servers based in Vietnam remains unaffected, according to ISPs.

The repair schedule for these systems has yet to be announced.

Vietnam’s ISPs have implemented measures to ensure Internet connectivity, including sharing traffic between internationally connected fiber optic lines, setting up additional access channels, and optimizing the use of overland internet cables.

In addition to the IA, APG, and AAE-1 systems, Vietnam is connected to the world through two other submarine cable systems: the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) and the Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe (SMW-3).

In early 2023, all five of these systems encountered issues, resulting in a 75-percent reduction in Internet traffic between Vietnam and the rest of the world.

This incident marked the most serious failure of undersea Internet cables in the Southeast Asian country to date, according to Tien Phong.

Aside from the five main undersea cable systems, Vietnam is connected by a smaller submarine Internet cable, the TVH, which links Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, spanning 3,367km.

Vietnam also has several terrestrial internet cable routes, though most of the country's international Internet traffic is transmitted via its undersea cable systems, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

As part of the information and communications infrastructure planning for 2021-30, with a vision for 2050, Vietnam will add up to six more submarine Internet cable systems by 2030, according to Tien Phong.

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