Vietnam installs first domestically owned international Internet cable

The 3,900-kilometer VSTN cable, which became operational on Monday, runs from the central city of Da Nang through Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, to Singapore. It is the first international cable to be fully owned and operated by a Vietnamese company.

The system utilizes dense wavelength division multiplexing technology, with each wavelength providing a minimum capacity of 300 Gigabits per second.

It has a design capacity of 4 Tbps, but can be expanded to 12 Tbps or more, and built to support high-volume data transmission for high-speed Internet, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, digital finance, and online conferencing. While there are regular disruptions to undersea cables and slow repairs, a land-based system reduces the risk of Internet outages and allows full control over its operation.

VNPT CEO Huynh Quang Liem said since 2022 the country’s undersea cable systems have averaged 10 failures per year. "At one point, four out of five international undersea cables connecting to Vietnam were damaged, severely reducing international bandwidth and causing VNPT to lose 75% of its capacity."

Undersea cable repairs are often delayed due to external factors. "Repair times range from two to three months and as long as six months. The AAG cable once took 12 months to fix."

Internet cables. Photo from Pexels

The launch of VSTN would diversify Vietnam’s global connectivity and enhance backup capacity for its telecom infrastructure, he said. He described it as a "safety valve," alleviating pressure on traditional undersea cables, that also offers improved resilience during natural disasters and supports Vietnam’s technological autonomy.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung called the project "a vivid image of One ASEAN, One Digital ASEAN." Telecom infrastructure must be both safe and sustainable since it has become the foundation of the digital economy, he said.

So Vietnam needs to install more undersea cables in various geographic directions and overland cables that offer faster recovery in case of faults, he said.

Praising VNPT for installing the first fully Vietnamese-owned system, he hoped for more of them by domestic telcos so that "Vietnam’s digital infrastructure can be ultra-broadband, high-capacity, inclusive, intelligent, open, secure, sustainable, and green."