The Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) international undersea cable broke down at 11:50pm on 23 April, disrupting Internet connections from Viet Nam to other countries, according to the Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications (VNPT).

The Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) international undersea cable broke down at 11:50pm on 23 April, disrupting Internet connections from Viet Nam to other countries (Photo: Internet)

The breakdown is due to problem of the cable’s branch to the Chongming/APG/China landing station near China. This is the 3^rd time in this year the cable system has been interrupted.

VNPT, one of the country’s largest Internet service providers, said to overcome the situation, it has re-directed the Internet traffic to other cable systems and been working with foreign partners to ensure the quality of Internet services so customers would not be severely affected due to the problem.

The cable’s repair is expected to finish within 3 weeks.

In 2018, the APG experienced the first rupture on 6 January, caused by the expansion of Changi Airport in Singapore. The 2^nd time was on 27 February, at a location about 125 km away from Hong Kong.

Initiated in 2009, the APG is a partnership between Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), China Telecom (China), China Unicom (China), KT Corporation (South Korea), NTT Communications (Japan), PLDT (the Philippines), Telekom Malaysia (Malaysia) and VNPT (Viet Nam).

The 10,400 km-long APG boasts a capacity of 54Tbps, the highest of any network in Asia, connecting 8 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region - China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Viet Nam. It was funded by VNPT, Viettel, FPT and CMC Telecom.

The cable system was put into operation at the end of 2016, aiming to reduce Viet Nam’s dependence on the Asia-America Gateway (AAG), which broke down several times last year.

(Source: VNA)