AAG Cable Down Offshore Vietnam on April 3 (repaired on April 21)

According to The Saigon Times, the Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable system encountered an incident on Friday, April 3,2020. This is the first submarine cable incident in Vietnam in 2020, it has affected Vietnam’s international internet traffic.

Many Vietnamese Internet users on April 3 complained that access to international services, such as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, was choppy. One of these providers sent an announcement to customers, saying that the AAG cable system was broken and warning that connections to services provided by Facebook and YouTube would slow down. Meanwhile, access to local websites remains normal, according to the announcement.

According to Vietnami Isider, there are now six submarine cable systems connecting Vietnam, as well as a 120Gbps bandwidth that runs overland through China. The undersea cables have had a very high risk of interruption and been under frequent repair, affecting all service providers in Vietnam. It is said, Vietnam’s average broadband speed is 10 times slower than Singapore’s 70.86 Mbps, a third of Malaysia’s 23.86 Mbps and half that of Thailand’s (18.21 Mbps).

It is expected to take more than two week to repair the AAG cable. 

Update 1:

The repair of AAG cable system was completed on April 21, 2020.

Update 2:

The AAG cable system broke down for the second time this year on May 14. Repairs to this cable system are expected to be finished on June 2.

Meanwhile, the APG cable system connecting Vietnam also broke down on May 23.