Undersea cable fault slows internet speed in Vietnam

The Asia Pacific Gateway (APG), which links Vietnam with other Asian countries, encountered technical problems at dawn on Monday, according to information from an Internet service provider in Vietnam.

The issue was detected on the S6 cable section near the Hong Kong landing station.

Currently, Internet service providers in Vietnam have not been informed about the specific cause or any plans to fix it.

Meanwhile, repairs on the Asia Africa Europe 1 (AAE-1) and the Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea cables have not yet to be completed so far.

A shunt fault at the S1H cable section caused all the data on the AAE-1 line to be lost since the end of November while the AAG cable has encountered faults on certain sections since June. A shunt fault is common for undersea cables, usually caused by anchors, fishing vessels, strong ocean flows or even undersea creatures.

The AAE-1 cable has already begun operation since July 2017, helping Vietnam connect with Europe and the Middle East, as well as providing data connecting with Hong Kong and Singapore.

The APG cable runs 10,400 kilometers (6,460 miles) under the Pacific Ocean, with connection points in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Vietnam, where 72 percent of the population is online, has six submarine cable systems, plus a 120-gigabit channel that runs overland through China.

Faulty undersea cables affecting Internet connections in Vietnam is not uncommon.

The Vietnam Internet Association said ISPs in Vietnam have already been used to this, and so impacts on Internet connections should be localized and only apparent during certain time periods.