Current Status & Impact
Vietnam is experiencing a major disruption to its international internet connectivity due to simultaneous faults on four out of its six primary subsea cable systems. The outages have knocked out approximately 30% of Vietnam’s total international internet capacity. While domestic internet traffic remains stable, users face slower speeds, high latency, and intermittent connection drops during peak evening hours when accessing overseas-hosted services, including social media platforms, international streaming, and global gaming servers.
Incident Timelines & Repair Schedules
Direct internet providers like VNPT and Viettel are actively rerouting data through land-based networks (terrestrial cables running through China and Southeast Asia) and the country’s two remaining functional subsea lines to mitigate the severe bandwidth deficit. [3, 5]
| Subsea Cable System | Outage Start / Background | Repair Status & Expected Timeline |
| AAE-1 (Asia-Africa-Europe 1) | February 2026; suffered an un-repaired fault on its S1.H2 segment, compounded by a fresh rupture in late August. | Repair work is tentatively scheduled to begin late September 2026, heavily dependent on specialized vessel availability and weather conditions. |
| SJC2 (Southeast Asia-Japan 2) | August 25, 2026; suffered a sudden fault on the S4 segment near Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong. | No specific repair timetable has been released by the international cable operator. |
| AAG (Asia-America Gateway) | Ongoing from mid-2026; the line was already down for unresolved, historical issues when the new wave of faults hit. | Maintenance operations are expected to officially commence early September 2026. |
| TGN-IA (Tata TGN Intra-Asia) | Late August 2026; became the fourth system flagged as actively impaired. | Repair operations are slated to begin in early September 2026. |
Next Steps & Strategic Outlook
The overlapping nature of these faults underscores long-standing vulnerabilities in the country’s data infrastructure, which averages 10 subsea incidents a year. In response, the Vietnamese government is prioritising its Digital Infrastructure Master Plan, aiming to deploy over 10 new subsea cable systems across distributed coastal landing stations by 2030 to establish long-term internet resilience.
