Singtel, Viettel to develop Singapore-Vietnam submarine cable system

SINGTEL : Z74 0% and Vietnam’s largest telecommunications company Viettel have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to plan and develop a submarine cable system that directly connects Vietnam and Singapore.

The Vietnam-Singapore Cable System (VTS) will be developed with a configuration of eight fibre pairs using advanced wavelength division multiplexing technology.

It is scheduled to be operational by Q2 2027, and will be the shortest cable directly connecting both countries.

Its main trunk landing stations in Vietnam will be managed by Viettel, while those in Singapore will be managed by Singtel.

Branch landing stations are also expected to be established in Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.

When deployed, the VTS is expected to add hundreds of terabits per second (tbps) to Viettel’s total international connectivity capacity.

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The latest MOU is in line with Vietnam’s strategy to increase its total number of submarine cables to a minimum of 15 systems by 2030, with a total capacity of at least 334 tbps.

To achieve this, at least two of the submarine cable systems founded by Vietnam must be operational, with priority given to short routes directly connecting to major digital hubs in Asia, including Singapore.

Vietnam intends to deploy its submarine cable systems evenly in three directions: the north and south of the East Sea, and to the Southern Sea areas.

On Friday (Apr 12), Singtel and Viettel said the upcoming VTS will provide a large amount of high-speed capacity, open up a connection direction to the south, and enhance the redundancy and security of Viettel’s international connection infrastructure.

It will be the first cable with the latest advanced bandwidth technology jointly established by Vietnam and Singapore’s two largest telecommunications operators.

Ooi Seng Keat, Singtel’s vice-president for digital infrastructure and services, said: “Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies in South-east Asia, with enterprises and consumers adopting new technologies such as artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications.

“The construction of the VTS cable will support this increasing demand for higher-bandwidth and lower-latency connectivity.”