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.

(Source: Tuoi tre)