Opening of the first VSTN international land cable line invested and owned by Vietnam

On August 4, 2025, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group ( VNPT ) put into operation the VSTN international land cable system. This is the first completely land-based transmission line directly managed and operated by VNPT Group from Vietnam to the international connection point, ensuring proactive incident handling, increasing reliability and information security.

Opening ceremony of VSTN international land cable system. (Photo: VNPT)

VSTN cable route passes through 5 countries: Vietnam - Laos - Thailand - Malaysia - Singapore, connecting directly from VNPT technical center in Da Nang to leading international data centers in the region.

Unlike submarine fiber optic cables that are prone to problems and take a long time to fix, VSTN helps minimize the risk of disruption thanks to its transcontinental road design and the ability to control the entire route.

The cable line uses DWDM wavelength division multiplexing technology - one of the most advanced transmission technologies today. Each wavelength has a minimum capacity of 300 Gbps, with a total designed capacity of the entire line of 4 Tbps, which can be flexibly upgraded to 12 Tbps or higher.

Mr. To Dung Thai - Chairman of the Board of Directors of VNPT Group - spoke at the event. (Photo: VNPT)

This meets the growing demand for big data transmission, meeting the increasing demands of digital services such as high-speed Internet, cloud computing, AI, digital finance, online conferencing, etc.

Speaking at the event, Mr. To Dung Thai - Chairman of the Board of Directors of VNPT Group - emphasized: "This is not only a technical infrastructure project - but also a symbol of the strategic vision, aspiration to master technology, expand connectivity, and proactively integrate globally" of VNPT Group in particular and Vietnam in general."

According to a VNPT representative, the operation of VSTN acts as a "safety valve" for the national digital ecosystem, reducing the load on traditional submarine cables that are often interrupted.

In recent times, there have been many incidents with submarine optical cables, seriously affecting international Internet access speeds, negatively impacting digital services - from business, study to entertainment. In addition, the recovery time is often prolonged, causing significant damage to both service providers and customers.

At the event, Mr. Huynh Quang Liem - General Director of VNPT Group - said that from 2022 to now, the submarine cable system has experienced nearly 40 incidents, an average of more than 10 incidents per year. Notably, there were times when 4/5 international submarine cable routes connecting Vietnam simultaneously encountered incidents, seriously reducing international traffic, at times VNPT lost more than 75% of its capacity.

Mr. Huynh Quang Liem - General Director of VNPT Group - speaking at the event. (Photo: VNPT)

“The operation of the VSTN land cable system will help minimize those losses, not only diversifying connections to the world but also contributing to enhancing Vietnam's technological autonomy,” Mr. Huynh Quang Liem emphasized.

It is known that besides VSTN, VNPT is exploiting four international submarine cable lines including AAG, APG, AAE-1 and SJC-2, with a total investment length of more than 65,000 km. In addition, VNPT also owns and operates two telecommunications satellites Vinasat-1 and Vinasat-2, and is deploying a third satellite to enhance connectivity from space.

The combination of VSTN terrestrial cables, submarine cables and satellite systems creates a multi-layer, multi-directional transmission architecture, ensuring wide coverage, high continuity and strong transmission capacity - serving both domestic and international customers.

Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the event. (Photo: VNPT)

Speaking at the event, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung highly appreciated the efforts of VNPT Group. The Minister said that Vietnam's first international fiber optic cable - TDH since 1996 and is a cable line in which Vietnam plays the role of a participating partner.

For nearly 30 years, Vietnam has never had an international cable line 100% invested by Vietnamese people. VNPT Group, with its aggressive spirit, has very quickly deployed an international land-based fiber optic cable line, which is the first line 100% invested by Vietnamese people and Vietnamese enterprises.

“Vietnam’s telecommunications infrastructure has become digital infrastructure, the infrastructure of the economy, so the safety and sustainability of digital infrastructure is extremely important. To ensure safety and sustainability, we must diversify, have many submarine optical cables, going in many different directions, especially land optical cables, which are very resilient. This is the order of the Party and the State and Vietnam’s digital infrastructure is safe and sustainable,” Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized.