Only 1 APG submarine cable is having problems

Informing VietNamNet reporters on March 5, a representative of an Internet service provider - ISP in Vietnam said that since the end of February 2025, the work to fix the incident that occurred on December 26, 2024 on branch S1 at a location 190 km from the Singapore landing station of the IA submarine cable (also known as Lien A) has been completed, completely restoring capacity on the line.

Meanwhile, with the APG submarine cable, the expected repair schedule for the errors on branches S9 and S1.9 occurring in early February 2025 has been announced by the international partner to network operators in Vietnam.

Specifically, the fault on branch S9 at a location 143 km from the Singapore landing station of the APG line is expected to be fixed in the second half of March 2025. The two faults on the cable branch connecting to Malaysia of the APG will be fixed from March 28, 2025 to April 7, 2025.

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Whenever submarine cables have problems, network operators quickly deploy backup plans to minimize the impact and ensure the quality of international Internet services provided to users. Illustration photo: CH

Thus, it is expected that Vietnamese Internet users will have to wait more than 1 month for all international Internet connections from Vietnam to be fully restored, with 6 international submarine fiber optic cables including AAG, APG, IA, AAE-1, SMW3 and ADC all operating normally.

Among the 6 international submarine cable lines connecting Vietnam's Internet to the world, ADC is the newest and has the largest capacity in Vietnam (20 Tbps). Inaugurated in December 2024, ADC has Viettel as one of the 9 investors.

This international submarine cable is expected to improve Internet speed and ensure the sustainability of Vietnam's international connections. However, the ADC cable has not yet been officially put into operation.

In fact, in the context of the current limited number of international Internet cable systems connecting Vietnam, the continuous problems with submarine cables have caused many difficulties for network operators to ensure service quality.

The digital infrastructure strategy to 2025 and vision to 2030, approved by the Prime Minister in October 2024, clearly stated: "Vietnam's digital infrastructure must have super-large capacity, super-wide bandwidth, be universal, sustainable, green, smart, open and secure to meet the requirements of developing the digital economy , digital society, digital government, contributing to ensuring national defense and security" .

Also according to the strategy, regarding submarine optical cables, Vietnam aims to put into operation at least 2 new lines by 2025; by 2030, deploy and put into operation at least 6 new submarine optical cable lines, increasing the total design capacity of submarine optical cable lines to at least 350 Tbps, especially completing and putting into use at least 1 additional submarine optical cable line owned by Vietnam.

With the direction of the state management agency, recently, Vietnamese telecommunications enterprises have begun to invest and seek new directions and submarine optical routes to ensure the safety and sustainability of telecommunications networks.

Policy for sustainable development of international telecommunication cable system

Notably, Resolution 57 dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo clearly stated the requirements to develop advanced, modern digital technology infrastructure with super-large capacity and super-wide bandwidth on par with advanced countries; develop telecommunications and Internet infrastructure that meets the requirements of backup, connectivity, safety and sustainability.

“Reviewing and amending legal regulations to facilitate the removal of difficulties and obstacles for investment in the deployment of international submarine optical cable lines in which Vietnamese enterprises are members or owners” is one of the tasks set forth by the Government in Resolution 03 dated January 9, 2025.

Implementing Resolution 57 and Resolution 03, on February 19, the National Assembly passed Resolution 193 on piloting a number of special mechanisms and policies to create breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation.

Resolution 193 has issued "Policy for developing international telecommunication cable lines connecting undersea with Vietnamese telecommunication enterprises participating in capital contribution or being investors" .

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The submarine optical cable is an important international connection infrastructure between Vietnam and other countries, including the segment located within Vietnam's territory. Illustration photo: Internet

Specifically, Resolution 193 stipulates that investment projects on international telecommunications cable lines connecting at sea with landing stations in Vietnam must apply the procedures prescribed for investment projects in Vietnam according to the provisions of the law on investment and must meet requirements on ensuring national defense and security.

Allow the investment policy approval authority to decide on the use of the form of designated bidding to implement bidding packages of the submarine fiber optic cable investment project in which Vietnamese enterprises participate in contributing capital or are investors, to be implemented in the period of 2025 - 2030 to promptly meet the requirements of telecommunications infrastructure development.

In addition, in case the form of designated bidding is not used, the selection of contractors to implement the investment project is carried out according to international practices agreed upon or signed by the parties between the Vietnamese telecommunications enterprise and the foreign organization that is a member contributing capital to invest in the construction of the international submarine optical cable line.

According to the analysis of the unit drafting Resolution 193, the policy on developing submarine optical cable lines with Vietnamese telecommunications enterprises participating in capital contribution or being investors is to remove difficulties and obstacles in investment and bidding procedures to develop Vietnam's international submarine optical cable system to meet the set goals.

Sharing more about the reason why the new policy only applies to the period of 2025 - 2030, the drafting unit explained: To meet the set goals of developing digital infrastructure in general and international submarine cable infrastructure in particular in Resolution 57 of the Politburo and Resolution 03 of the Government, Vietnam's international optical cable strategy requires the development of 9 new submarine cable routes in the period of 2025 - 2030. Therefore, a special mechanism is needed in this period to complete the set goals.

Vietnam will have 10 new submarine optical cable lines, with a total capacity more than 10 times higher . Vietnam's international optical cable system development strategy aims to put into operation at least 10 new submarine optical cable lines by 2030, bringing the total number of submarine optical cable lines in Vietnam to at least 15.