Internet in Vietnam remains at snail's pace due to cable repair delays

Vietnam's internet speed is likely to remain slow for the foreseeable future due to further delays to repair work on the Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable, while work on the country’s other internet link, the Intra Asia (IA) cable, is ongoing.

The AAG was disrupted for the second time this year in February following a breakdown in early January, and the cable repair ship is not likely to reach the broken cable before April 5, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted local internet providers as saying Monday.

A new rupture on the IA undersea cable, which links Vietnam with Hong Kong, has just been discovered after the first disrupted section, which connects Vietnam with Singapore, was found in February.

According to local internet suppliers, the Vietnam-Singapore section will hopefully be back up and running by April 1, and then work will start to fix the Vietnam-Hong Kong section.

The cable's operator, India's Tata Communications, confirmed the information, saying it would be unable to finish fixing the Vietnam-Singapore line by March 25 as initially planned, and has moved the goal to April 1.

The company said it would start work on the Vietnam-Hong section of the IA on April 5.

Coming into service in 2009, the AAG accounts for more than 60 percent of the country’s international internet traffic.

Stretching more than 20,000 kilometers (12,430 miles), the cable connects Southeast Asia and the U.S., passing through Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

With an investment of $200 million, the 6,800-kilometer (4,200 miles) IA line was officially launched in November 2009, connecting Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.

Vietnam has five submarine cable systems. It also has a 120 gigabit/second channel that runs overland through China.

More than 60 percent of Vietnam's population is online.