New ADC submarine cable to be operational in early 2024

The ADC submarine cable project conference was recently hosted by Viettel Enterprise Solutions Corporation from June 5 to June 9 in Ho Chi Minh City.

During the 5-day conference, 8 investors including NT, China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT Inc., Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications, Viettel and contractor NEC focused mainly on resolving problems in the implementation of the ADC submarine cable project.

Specifically, according to information from Viettel Solutions, investors reviewed the entire progress of the project, raised discussion topics revolving around both technical and commercial issues. The conference approved the plan to install equipment at the remaining landing station, determined the expected time to complete the cable landing station in Singapore, which is also the final landing point of the ADC submarine cable project.

In addition, plans for project integration, measurement, acceptance, personnel training plans at landing stations, terms and adjustments related to the rights and responsibilities of the ADC system's member partners were also discussed, ensuring the progress of the entire project.

ADC is a submarine cable about 9,800 km long connecting China, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The ADC cable system is designed with 8 pairs of optical fibers, capable of transmitting more than 140 Tbps of data traffic, allowing high-capacity transmission across East Asia and Southeast Asia. This is also a submarine optical cable using modern transmission technology, helping to connect countries in the Asia-Pacific region, with a total initial investment of 290 million USD.

Currently, Internet service providers in Vietnam are investing in and exploiting 5 international submarine cable lines including AAG, APG, SMW3, AAE-1 and IA. According to the expected plan, by the end of this year, the submarine cable alliance with VNPT will put into operation the new submarine cable line SJC2. The time to exploit and operate the ADC submarine cable line with Viettel's investment is in the first quarter of 2024.

Another difference between the two submarine cable lines SJC2 and ADC that are about to be put into operation is that compared to the submarine cable lines that Vietnam is currently exploiting, the two new lines are connected to Vietnam in Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh. According to Mr. Vu The Binh, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Internet Association, this helps increase the safety of Vietnam's international connection system, not concentrating all at one landing location.

On the other hand, the fact that the two SJC2 and ADC cable lines still connect to Hong Kong and Singapore confirms the fact that these two main hubs play a major role, but also shows that Vietnam can gradually have the opportunity to become a regional transit and connection station if the infrastructure connecting to Western countries as well as domestic infrastructure is more strongly developed.

Regarding the ADC and SJC2 submarine cable lines, Mr. Vu The Binh said that these two submarine cable lines are both using the latest technologies, so their capacity and price are likely to be better than the current submarine cable lines. Certainly, when the new submarine cable lines are put into operation, Vietnam's dependence on the current submarine cable lines will decrease; along with that, the safety and stability of service quality will also increase.

In information shared in February 2023, the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Information and Communications (TT&TT)said that, to increase Vietnam's initiative, the Ministry of Information and Communications is directing Vietnamese enterprises to build about 2 international submarine cable lines invested and owned by a group of domestic enterprises in alliance. The Ministry of Information and Communications will be the focal point to gather and mobilize domestic telecommunications enterprises to coordinate the construction, in which there will be large, strong enterprises taking the lead in implementation and other enterprises participating and contributing.

Next, at the May press conference of the Ministry of Information and Communications held on May 5, Director of the Department of Telecommunications Nguyen Thanh Phuc said that in the coming time, the Ministry of Information and Communications will urge and guide telecommunications enterprises to research and build 4-6 new submarine optical cable lines, in accordance with the draft "Information and communication infrastructure planning 2021 - 2030 to ensure meeting the demand until 2030".

According to Vietnamnet