First direct Vietnam-U.S. undersea cable line goes online

Vietnam Telecom International (VTI) has pressed the switch-on button for a new international high-bandwidth optical fiber submarine cable system to link Vietnam with other Southeast Asian nations and the United States.VTI managing director Nguyen Huu Khanh told the launch ceremony in Vung Tau on Friday that the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) was of paramount importance as it was the first system connecting Vietnam directly with the United States and secured uninterrupted telecommunications links to the world.

Khanh said with the new system VTI did not have to lease lines in regional countries to hook Vietnam’s cable systems to those links with the U.S. as it did for the two previous cables including the TVH that connects Vietnam with Thailand and Hong Kong. VTI is a subsidiary of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT).

Khanh told the Daily after the ceremony that the AAG did not require any leased cable link between Vietnam and the U.S. so it helped save costs and lower the charges of telecommunications services in Vietnam in the coming times.

Connected with Vietnam in Vung Tau, the AAG also contributes greatly to improving telecommunications services and will meet the surging demand for bandwidth services including internet, video, data transmission and other multimedia services in the country.

Khanh said the AAG was completed on November 10 with an initial capacity of 500 gigabits per second, but its designed capacity is two terabits per second of data bandwidth. So, it can supports 130,000 data transmission lines for high-definition television in a time.

The cable system runs 20,000 kilometers long through Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii and California of the U.S. It will also establish seamless interconnection with Australia, India, Europe and Africa.

Khanh said VNPT/VTI was one of the founding members of the AAG under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in Hong Kong in June 2006. Other founding members are AT&T of the U.S., AiTi of Brunei, CAT of Thailand, PLDT of the Philippines, REACH of Hong Kong, StarHub of Singapore and Telekom Malaysia.

The companies clinched a construction and maintenance agreement in Malaysia in April 2007 to begin work on the AAG. Then, an association of the system members was born and now includes FPT Telecom, Saigon Postel Corp., Viettel and VNPT of Vietnam.

The AAG required total investment capital of less than US$554 million, and US$90 million of which was contributed by the home side, comprising VNPT (US$40 million), Saigon Postel Corp. (US$20 million), Viettel (US$20 million), and FPT Telecom (US$10 million).

Khanh said the association of members shared the costs for operation, maintenance and repair of the AAG in case of problems.

Khanh told the Daily that VTI was preparing to jointly develop a larger international bandwidth optical fiber submarine cable system. Scheduled to go online in 2011, this Asia-Pacific Gateway project will takes an initial investment capital of around US$900 million, and is designed to connect with Vietnam in Danang.

Khanh said more cable systems together with the Vinasat 1 satellite launched into the orbit in April 2008 would meet the increasing demand for telecommunication services in Vietnam and supported the country’s fast integration into the world.

Tags: Vietnam Telecom