Viettel and Singtel, two telecommunications giants of Vietnam and Singapore, will jointly build the Vietnam-Singapore submarine cable system, connecting Vietnam to the city-state, a major digital hub of Asia.
Viettel and Singtel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the move on Thursday. The two sides will build the system featuring eight fiber pairs (FP) and the latest advanced wavelength division multiplexing technology. The main trunk landing stations of the systems are in Vietnam, managed by Viettel, and in Singapore, managed by Singtel.
The system is set to have branches stationed in Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia. It is scheduled to enter operation in the second quarter of 2027.
The facility is part of Viettel’s efforts to serve Vietnam’s international optical cable system development strategy 2030 drafted by the Ministry of Information and Communications. With a goal of developing Vietnam into a regional digital hub with fast and green connections to the world, the country should connect to at least 15 submarine cable systems with a minimum bandwidth of 334 Tbps. The connections include two submarine cable systems owned by Vietnam.
The Vietnam-Singapore cable system is set to become the first system with the latest advanced bandwidth technology jointly established by the two largest operators in Vietnam and Singapore, military-run telco Vietnam said. It is also the shortest cable directly connecting Vietnam to Singapore.
In April 2022, Viettel, as the Vietnamese owner in the trans-Asia Asia Direct Cable (ADC) submarine cable system, announced that the 9,800-kilometer facility will connect to Vietnam at Quy Nhon town, central coastal province of Binh Dinh. The project is expected to add 181 Tbps to the bandwidth of Viettel’s international connection.
Vietnam currently connects to five international cable systems, namely Asia-America Gateway (AAG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), Asia Pacific Gateway (APG), Intra-Asia (IA), and South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 3 (SMW3). The five facilities constantly suffer from service breakdown.