Undersea Cable in Vietnam Experiences Immediate Malfunction Following Repairs

Immediately after recent repairs were completed, Vietnam’s APG undersea cable has once again experienced a malfunction. An Internet service provider confirmed that the S7 section of the Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) cable, which had malfunctioned in March, was successfully repaired as planned on Thursday. This restored the crucial Internet connection between Vietnam and the outside world through APG routes to Hong Kong and Japan.

However, the S1.7 section of the cable, which connects to Singapore, is currently malfunctioning. As a result, the data flow through the cable is operating at only half capacity, according to the provider. The APG cable’s management unit has not disclosed the cause of the malfunction to its partners, nor has a timeline for repairs been provided. Other Internet service providers have stated that this issue will continue to impact Vietnam’s international Internet connection, preventing it from returning to normal.

Four Vietnamese companies, namely FPT, VNPT, Viettel, and CMC, along with a group of international businesses, have investments in the 10,400-km APG cable. With a maximum bandwidth of 54 Tb per second, the cable possesses the highest data capacity among all undersea cables in Asia. Currently, Vietnam operates five undersea cables. In February, all five cables encountered issues simultaneously. In May, Internet service providers reported to the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority that four of the cables, excluding APG, had been repaired and were functioning normally.