By Vaughan O’Grady
Vietnam has confirmed plans – approved by the government and announced by the Ministry of Information and Communications – to invest in two to four more international telecommunications cables with a data capacity of 60 Tbps by 2025.
This news was contained in a plan for information and communication infrastructure development for 2021-2030.
The plan’s aim is to ensure high network speeds and bandwidth, wide network availability and that telecommunications infrastructure can adequately serve digital transformation, a digital economy, digital government and national defence.
Inevitably, this means better cable infrastructure than the country has boasted to date. Vietnam’s five existing undersea cables, offering international connectivity with a capacity of some 18.7 Tbps, have had a number of recurring problems, including disruption lasting most of last year. Hence the plan for new cables, suggested in early December 2023.
The plan calls for connections with Vietnam’s major islands and island districts. Priority will be given to areas with existing stations, in order to simplify cable landings. Existing land cables will be maintained and upgraded.
Information and communication infrastructure development targets for 2025 are ambitious. Outlined by local news resource VN Express International, they suggest that all families in Vietnam must be able to gain access to fibre connections, that 90 per cent of users must be able to gain access to fixed internet connections at 200 Mpbs, and that 90 per cent of socio-economic organisations should be able to gain access to internet connections of 1 Gbps.
These, and similarly ambitious mobile connectivity targets, will no doubt be easier to reach if some or all of the cable plans making headlines this week are carried out by 2025.
