Internet traffic hit as cable cut off Vietnam’s coast   Youths are pictured at an Internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City in this photo illustration. Tuoi Tre Users of the Vietnam’s Internet service providers have been experiencing disruption or slower speed starting Friday night as a submarine cable system was cut off Vung Tau’s coast. The cut was identified on the AAG (Asia America Gateway) cable system connecting Vung Tau and Hong Kong at the position that is some 278km from Vung Tau’s coast, FPT Telecom said in a statement released Saturday. The outage affected some 60 percent of the Internet traffic of the Vietnamese Internet service providers, according to FPT Telecom. The disruption mainly affected the overall traffic between Vietnam and other parts of the world, thus slowing down communications and data transfers between users in Vietnam and the world. Fortunately, transactions and communications made domestically are not affected. FPT Telecom is working closely with those in charge of managing the AAG to keep its users updated. It will also resume connection as soon as the disruption is solved, the company said. The AAG is a 20,000-kilometre long submarine communications cable system, connecting Southeast Asia with the USA mainland, across the Pacific Ocean via Guam and Hawaii. Development of the AAG cable system was funded at a cost of US$500 million by 19 partners, including Vietnam’s Viettel and VNPT. The cable has been encountered frequent breaks and outages since its ready for service in late 2009. TUOITRENEWS