Internet in Vietnam back to 100% normal as cable cut welded: report Students are seen accessing the Internet on a laptop at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. Tuoi Tre Gone are the days when Internet users in Vietnam had to suffer snail-paced speed when utilizing services as simple as sending emails. The welding of a cut found in the submarine AAG (Asia Gateway Pacific) cable system, which provides Vietnam with Internet connectivity, was completely finished around mid-day Thursday, according to tech news website ICTnews. Internet speeds in Vietnam have thus returned to 100 percent normal since Friday, one day earlier than expected, the newswire said, citing local Internet service providers. The cut was identified at around 8:04 am on January 5 on section S1H, which connects the Vietnamese coastal city of Vung Tau and Hong Kong. The cable operator then said the break would be fixed on January 23 and later revised it to January 24. Even when repairs were done, the AAG operator did not say why the cable snapped, as in previous cases. A cut may be caused by sharks or vessels passing through the area where the cable is laid, according to insiders. Internet traffic in Vietnam is greatly affected whenever the AAG cable ruptures as the system has the largest capacity out of the four submarine Internet cables that provide connectivity for the Southeast Asian country. The cut had been slowing down Internet speeds when Vietnamese users utilized services hosted overseas. The AAG is a 20,000-kilometer-long submarine communications cable system, connecting Southeast Asia with the U.S. mainland, across the Pacific Ocean via Guam and Hawaii. The cable has encountered frequent breaks and outages since it was completed in late 2009. Last year the cable broke three times, slowing down Internet speeds whenever Vietnamese users accessed websites hosted overseas. The AAG submarine cable was first cut off on July 16, and snapped again on September 15. On September 29, with the second rupture yet to be repaired, a third break was found on the same cable section. TUOI TRE NEWS