Two undersea cables break down, disrupt Vietnam internet services

The Asia Pacific Gateway (APG), which links Vietnam with Hong Kong and Japan, broke down Saturday morning, making it difficult for Vietnamese internet users to access foreign websites like Facebook and Netflix, an internet services provider said.

The cause of the breakdown was unclear at the time of publishing.

With another undersea cable, Intra Asia (IA) – which connects Vietnam with Singapore – breaking down in January 1, Vietnamese internet service providers have diverted traffic to the three remaining undersea cables to maintain international connections.

Internet speed is now stable, with users reporting over 40 megabit per second with mostly normal access to Facebook Messenger and Netflix with occasional slowdown.

The APG is considered a stable cable which began operating in 2016 and is used by Vietnam’s telecom service providers VNPT, Viettel, FPT Telecom and CMC Telecom.

The IA cable, which transfers data between Vietnam and Europe, North America and South America, began operations in January 2009.