Vietnam to gain extra submarine internet cable

Costing $290 million, the Asia Direct Cable (ADC) stretches 9,800 kilometers, has a total capacity of more than 140 Terabitsper second (Tbps). It is said to be the fiber optic cable line with the largest bandwidth capacity in Vietnam, three times higher than that of Asia Pacific Gateway, which has a capacity of 54.8 Tbps, media reports said.

It will connect Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

As the only Vietnamese investor in the cable, Viettel has yet to announce its investment.

Among other investors of the line are international communication groups like Singapore Telecommunications Limited, China Telecom, Japan’s SoftBank, China Unicom, and India’s TATA Communications.

Viettel said it would put the cable into service in 2023.

Vietnam has six submarine cable systems and a 120 gigabit channel that runs overland through China.

Connected in November 2009, the $560-million Asia American Gateway handles more than 60 percent of the country’s international Internet traffic. The cable runs more than 20,000 kilometers (12,420 miles), connecting Southeast Asia with the U.S., passing through Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

As of 2021, out of its population of over 96 million people, the number of internet users reached approximately 69 million, according to a global consumer survey by German data portal Statista.