According to the plan, the Vietnam Date Communication Company (VDC) under the VNPT will open two additional STM-16 optical links at 2.5 Gbps to the US in order to double its international internet bandwidth over the previous year.

The STM-16 (synchronous transport module-level 16) is a level in SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) telecommunications standards widely used in Europe.

Most of the newly opened links will run on the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) cable network, which directly connects Southeast Asia to the US.

This upgrade will contribute to the improvement of VDC’s internet service quality.

Its international internet bandwidth currently reaches 32 Gbps, occupying 60 percent of Vietnam’s links to the world.

In 2008, there were about 2.1 million ADSL subscribers in the whole country, in which 1.3 million, or more than 60 percent, were with VNPT and the rest, with Viettel, FPT and Netnam.

Taking advantage of the fixed network and the broadband infrastructure established across the nation, the VNPT is now the sole corporation capable of providing ADSL services to all 63 cities and provinces.