By Tuoi Tre New
Below-standard technical designs have been blamed for the frequent breaks of part of the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable that connects Vung Tau City in southern Vietnam and Hong Kong, according to an executive of a Vietnamese telecom firm.
“I must say that the AAG cable system was built to a below-standard technical design, which is the major reason behind its frequent fractures,” said Nguyen Van Khoa, general director of FPT Telecom, a major Internet service provider in Vietnam.
“Two years ago, part of the AAG that connects bordering areas between Malaysia and Singapore repeatedly broke, since it goes through overlapping maritime areas between the two countries,” Khoa said.
“A number of boats stop in the said overlapping areas, so their anchors may have become stuck in the cable as sailors raised them and set sail, causing it to break,” he explained.
While explaining why the recent cable cut has so greatly affected Internet traffic in Vietnam, Khoa said that the country has only four submarine Internet cables, and the AAG has the most capacity.
