State-run telecom giant Viettel announced recently that it has officially invested in a new submarine internet cable system connecting Vietnam, China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
The Asia Direct Cable (ADC), due for completion in the fourth quarter of 2022, will be an undersea cable with one of the largest data capacities and the highest internet speeds connecting Vietnam with countries across Asia.
As per a media report, the ADC consists of many fibre-optic pairs capable of transmitting over 140 terabits per second (Tbps), enabling the high-speed transmission of big data between countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Once completed and put into operation, the ADC system will have the largest bandwidth capacity in Vietnam, specifically about three times greater than that of the current ASEAN Pacific Gateway (APG) cable.
According to telecom technology experts, with large system capacity, the ADC is capable of supporting operations for applications with high bandwidth demands, driven by advances in 5G technology, cloud computing, internet of things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI), contributing to expanding the internet connection network in the region.
The new system will contribute to drive the Asian ICT business growth as one of the core infrastructures in the region and to meet the evolving marketplace, an industry expert noted.
The ADC system is expected to create favourable conditions regarding telecom infrastructure, contributing to accelerating the digital transformation process in Vietnam, said a representative of the ADC deployment unit.
In the country, Viettel is the only company to have invested in this new submarine cable. Up to now, the military-run telecom giant has invested in five submarine cables, including AAG, IA, APG, AAE-1 and ADC.
The Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) submarine communications cable system was launched in July 2017.
Before it, all domestic transmission infrastructures (stations, fibre optic systems, and relevant equipment) were completed and were ready to be connected to AAE-1 into Viettel’s network.
The AAE-1 was a 23,000 km submarine communications system and the first connecting Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Europe with the lowest connection latency among these areas.
The AAE-1 was connected to the world’s largest data centres such as Telecom House in Hongkong (China), Equinix and Global Switch in Singapore, and Interxion Marseille – MRS1 and MRS2 in France.
With various branch points, the system connects Hong Kong (China), Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and France.
AAE-1 was the fourth submarine cable system to be invested by Viettel. Total investment figure pledged by Viettel for the project is US$50 million; the telecom network is the only local partner to host the cable landing station in Vietnam with a capacity of 2.5Tbps.
Soon, Viettel will build the ADC’s landing station in Quy Nhon city, Binh Dinh province, which is the third to be exclusively owned by Viettel in the country.