By Joe Fotalattee
An Internet service provider (ISP) reported to Tuoi Tre that four out of the five submarine Internet cable systems that link Vietnam to the rest of the world are having issues, with the most recent failure occurring on Saturday and seriously affecting users’ international connections.
On January 28, a cable break about 130 kilometers from a shoreline station in Singapore caused issues with the Intra Asia (IA) cable system, completely cutting off international data traffic from Vietnam to the city-state, according to the Internet service provider.
To connect Internet users in Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, and Vietnam, this system, with a total length of 6,800 kilometers, has been in use since November 2009.
Additionally, it served as a crucial pathway for the transfer of Internet data from users in Vietnam and other nearby nations to the Americas and Europe.
The connection between Vietnam, Singapore, and Japan was disrupted on January 21 when an incident occurred on the S9 branch of the APG cable system that connects to Singapore.
In the Pacific Ocean, this line, which connects mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore, spans about 10,400 kilometers.