Vietnam’s internet service to slow down after undersea cable rupture

The Intra Asia (IA) cable system connecting Vietnam to Hong Kong and other parts of Asia encountered a power failure Thursday morning, local media reported Saturday, citing a source with local internet service provider Viettel.

The disruption has happened at several points off Singapore’s shore, Viettel said. The cable is being repaired but nobody is sure when the IA will resume full operations.

Several internet service providers have said they are ready to reroute and transfer signals to other cables to minimize the impacts on users.

Disrupted internet cables are unfortunately common in Vietnam.

The 6,800km (4,225 miles) undersea cable was officially launched in November 2009, connecting Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.

More than 50 million people in Vietnam, or over half of the country’s population, are online.

With a download speed of 5.46 megabytes per second, Vietnam’s internet speed was ranked 74th out of 189 countries and territories in a global survey of broadband speeds compiled by Cable.co.uk, a U.K. broadband, TV, phone and mobile provider, last August.

Vietnam’s average broadband speed was 10 times lower than its Southeast Asian neighbor Singapore.