Vietnam's biggest optical submarine cable becomes operational

By Luu Quy December 20, 2024 | 12:45 am PT

The Asia Direct Cable, a fiber-optic submarine cable with a capacity of 20 Tbps allocated to Vietnam, double that of the country’s largest existing cable, became operational on Thursday.

Running nearly 10,000 km, it connects three major data hubs: Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Designed to carry more than 160 Tbps of traffic, it has an eight-fiber pair configuration and employs dense wavelength division multiplexing technology. In Vietnam it lands in Quy Nhon City in the central Binh Dinh Province.

Viettel, the sole Vietnamese investor in the project, owns the entire submarine branch, the landing station in Vietnam, and one fiber pair on the main route with a minimum capacity of 20 Tbps. "With its activation, the ADC becomes Vietnam’s largest submarine cable system, offering double the capacity of the current largest cable, AAE-1," a Viettel spokesperson said.

Map of Asia Direct Cable. Photo courtesy of Viettel Solutions

This marks the installation of Vietnam’s first new submarine cable in eight years after AAE-1. The country’s international internet connectivity relies on five primary cables: SMW-3, IA, AAG, APG, and AAE-1. SMW-3 is set to be decommissioned this year, while the remaining frequently suffer disruptions. Early in 2023 all five experienced partial or total failure, severely affecting internet access.

Pham Trung Kien, deputy general director of Viettel Solutions, said the ADC would reduce the load on the other cables, improving network reliability, national cybersecurity and telecom quality. With its high-capacity, high-speed connectivity, it would support emerging technologies such as 5G, AI, IoT, and AR/VR, he said.

"The ADC expands connectivity between Vietnam and other countries, fostering new opportunities for information exchange, international transactions and technological development."

The cable was also funded by Softbank, China Telecom Global, China Telecom Corporation, China Unicom, Singapore’s Singtel, India’s TATA Communications, Thailand’s National Telecom, and Philippine’s PLDT, and was installed by Japan’s NEC Corporation.

Under the National Digital Infrastructure Strategy approved in October, Vietnam plans to operationalize at least two new international submarine cables by 2025: the ADC and the upcoming SJC-2. By 2030 it aims to have six with a total capacity of at least 350 Tbps.