The Telecommunications Authority (Ministry of Science and Technology) said that as soon as an incident occurred on the AAE1 submarine fiber optic cable, telecommunications businesses activated a rescue plan, coordinating traffic to other cable lines and alternative connection directions.
The coordination between domestic network operators and international partners was implemented promptly, without recording local interruptions. The quality of Internet services and user communication is basically guaranteed.
According to information from the management agency, the AAE1 cable break incident occurred earlier in the section passing through Thailand, losing about 3,700 Gbps of international connection capacity.
The affected capacity is equivalent to nearly 10% of Vietnam's total international Internet connection capacity, currently reaching about 45,000 Gbps. This decrease is assessed as not large enough to cause an imbalance in bandwidth supply and demand.
Currently, Vietnam is operating six submarine fiber optic cable lines including AAG, IA, AAE1, APG, ADC and SJC2. Two new lines, ADC and SJC2, have contributed to improving international connectivity capacity in recent times.
In parallel with that, the VSTN land-based fiber optic cable line will be put into operation from 2025 with a designed capacity of 4 Tbps and can be expanded to 12 Tbps. This line allows the operating unit to proactively control the entire process, thereby minimizing the risk of interruption.
In the new field, Vietnam has also agreed to pilot satellite Internet. In mid-February, Starlink's service was licensed after completing procedures, but the deployment time and specific price have not been announced.
The AAE1 cable incident once again shows the importance of diversifying the connection infrastructure. When a line malfunctions, backup options and flexible coordination capabilities help minimize impact on users.
