If your internet got a little speedier in the new year, here’s why: Vietnam has a fancy new undersea cable that’s reportedly twice the speed of the old one.
While this change is not necessarily noticeable across all internet connections, Vietnam switched on Tuesday from the 20,000-kilometer, accident-prone Asia America Gateway (AAG) to a brand new, US$450 million system known as the Asia-Pacific Gateway Submarine Cable, reports VnExpress.
While the old system connected Vietnam with the United States, the country’s new internet line joins Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and Vietnam.
The 10,900-kilometer line was completed in November by Japanese IT firm NEC after four years of construction. Vietnam’s connection now runs through Da Nang, and both Viettel and VNPT were among the project’s 13 investors.
Meanwhile, Viettel is also reportedly investing in another 25,000-kilometer-long internet cable which joins Vietnam to Europe and is expected to go into operation in 2017.
[Photo via Wired]
