Vietnam : Internet to return to normal in 10 days ?
Since the telecom cable snapped on December 28, the normal lives of Vietnamese have been disrupted. It has been impossible to access websites with servers in the US, while Yahoo! Messenger also cannot be accessed.
Cable breakdown makes everything stand still
Two big cable leasing companies, Vietnam Telecom International (VTI) and Viettel, yesterday afternoon said that the cable breakdown was not completely repaired. Meanwhile, other sources said that the full recovery would take some more days.
VTI’s main client, the Vietnam Data and Communications Company (VDC), which is also the biggest Internet service provider in Vietnam, has been suffering. Nguyen Huu Khanh, Director of VTI, said that the breakdown had lead to the 30% decrease of international Internet output.
A company specialising in providing phone services via the Internet said that Internet phone capacity had been down by 10% (only 108,000 phone calls were successful yesterday). Ton Minh Thong, Deputy Director General of the Saigon Post and Telecommunications Joint Stock Company (SPT), said that the breakdown had severely affected several thousand ADSL subscribers and other clients who leased separated channels.
Tran Hoa Binh, Head of the Service Division under the central branch of VDC, said that some 80,000 clients of the branch had been suffering from the breakdown. “While waiting for the main transmission line to be repaired, we have to transfer data through other channels; however, the access is very difficult,” said Mr Binh.
Phan Thanh Son, Technique Director of Cisco Vietnam, said that everything had become stagnant due to the breakdown. The company relies on the Internet to contact its overseas parent company. Tele-conferences with subsidiaries in other countries have not been possible for the last two days, though the company is equipped with the 512kps direct line.
An official from Mabuchi Motor in Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone complained that the company had had to use the phone instead of e-mail for the previous two days, which has made the company’s expenses higher.
10 days or three weeks ?
VTI and Viettel have been trying to overcome the difficulties; however, experts said the recovery would depend not only on the two companies, but on international partners. International newspapers reported that experts have hurried to the scene of the breakdown to start repairs. They quoted Hong Kong government officials as saying that fixing undersea cables would take five to seven days, but the work could be delayed this time by aftershocks and by quake damage to the seabed.
Pham Hong Hai, Head of the Telecommunications Department under the Ministry of Post and Telematics, said that the ministry was urging relevant companies to speed up repairs. The ministry has asked relevant authorities to allow foreign ships to enter Vietnam’s territorial waters to repair cables.
Tuoi Tre - December 29, 2006.
Vietnam races to restore Internet access
Telecom corporations are working to quickly re-establish Internet access after a quake ruptured undersea cables off the coast of Taiwan, with two companies claiming repairs are 80 percent complete.
Vietnam Military Electronics and Telecommunications Co (Viettel) and Vietnam Data Communication Co (VDC) said late Friday that 80 percent of international Internet access had been successfully restored.
Connections to Yahoo, MSN, and hotmail were reportedly accessible with Viettel reporting access pace bouncing back to 310MB per second.
But Internet users are still in the doldrums about sluggish access to many international websites.
A Viettel official said the company had dispatched standing personnel to handle arising problems.
VDC also said they would remain in touch with international counterparts to sort out the problem within the next few days.
But another Vietnamese giant telecom company, FPT reportedly saw little improvement in this manner.
Truong Dinh Anh, FPT general director, said only 60 percent of disrupted Internet connection had been restored.
“[That] is because FPT’s chief partner, the Hong Kong PCCW telecom corporation, was also hit hardest in the Taiwan quake,” Anh elaborated.
He also admitted only when PCCW begins their repair work this weekend will FPT customers see grounds for hope of access improvement.
Vietnam was largely cut off from the World Wide Web Wednesday after a strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit Taiwan a day earlier, damaging undersea cables.
The unprecedented accident also took tolls on broadband service providers as well as foreign exchange trading in Asian countries.
By Hoang Ly - Thanh Nien - December 29, 2006.
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