Fishermen scavenging for scrap copper off the coast of Vietnam have stolen part of an undersea cable and crippled the country's internet access.
The TVH fibre-optic cable is one of a pair that provide around 80 per cent of the country's internet access via a connection to Hong Kong and Thailand.
Some 98km of cable was cut out which will cost at least $5.84m to replace and take around 30 days to install, according to a government committee.
Vietnam is now left with a single 10Gbps SMW3 undersea cable connecting the country with the outside world. If this line is stolen or damaged the country will be mostly cut off from the digital world.
Nguyen Tan Dung, prime minister of Vietnam, said that the serious violation of the law "directly affects Vietnam's socio-economic development, national security and the country's prestige in the region as well as in the world".
Dung has told Vietnam's Ministry of National Defence to boost patrols of vessels in waters where telecoms cables are located.
The Ba Ria Vung Tau government last year permitted soldiers and fishermen to salvage unused undersea cables laid before 1975 by the US or the former Republic of South Vietnam to sell as scrap.
But the province withdrew the permission last month and banned all forms of cable salvaging after fishermen damaged many active cables in the search for unused cables.
According to local press, deputy telematics minister Le Nam Thang has warned that cable thefts came under the category of destroying national communications and could result in the death sentence.
Source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2191721/...ietnam-internet
Full Version: Scavengers cripple Vietnam's internet line
wow, that's pretty low.
there should be stiff laws against tampering with undersea lines.
After all a whole country's e-market and connection to the rest of the world is at stake.
there should be stiff laws against tampering with undersea lines.
After all a whole country's e-market and connection to the rest of the world is at stake.
That's because the government let people scavenge used fiber optic cables left from the Vietnam War to sell as scrap metal. This could have been a case where someone didn't know whether the cable he took was scrap or live.
Thing is the government shouldn't have let people into that area to look for old cables, espicially when they knew the new cable was in that area as well. The consequences are much more greater than the value of selling that scrap.
Good thing the government wisened up and got rid of that scrap program they had. The perpetrators should get mercy since the government did invite them into the area to scavenge in the first place.
This also shows the need for the Vinasat satellites PRONTO, so Vietnam doesn't have to depend on cables as much and can diversify their communication source.
Thing is the government shouldn't have let people into that area to look for old cables, espicially when they knew the new cable was in that area as well. The consequences are much more greater than the value of selling that scrap.
Good thing the government wisened up and got rid of that scrap program they had. The perpetrators should get mercy since the government did invite them into the area to scavenge in the first place.
This also shows the need for the Vinasat satellites PRONTO, so Vietnam doesn't have to depend on cables as much and can diversify their communication source.
QUOTE(Byron @ Jun 9 2007, 03:46 PM) 
That's because the government let people scavenge used fiber optic cables left from the Vietnam War to sell as scrap metal. This could have been a case where someone didn't know whether the cable he took was scrap or live.
Thing is the government shouldn't have let people into that area to look for old cables, espicially when they knew the new cable was in that area as well. The consequences are much more greater than the value of selling that scrap.
Good thing the government wisened up and got rid of that scrap program they had. The perpetrators should get mercy since the government did invite them into the area to scavenge in the first place.
This also shows the need for the Vinasat satellites PRONTO, so Vietnam doesn't have to depend on cables as much and can diversify their communication source.
Thing is the government shouldn't have let people into that area to look for old cables, espicially when they knew the new cable was in that area as well. The consequences are much more greater than the value of selling that scrap.
Good thing the government wisened up and got rid of that scrap program they had. The perpetrators should get mercy since the government did invite them into the area to scavenge in the first place.
This also shows the need for the Vinasat satellites PRONTO, so Vietnam doesn't have to depend on cables as much and can diversify their communication source.
Right. Letting fishermen scavenge for old cables like that was a HUGE mistake, especially when they didn't know what they were doing.
As for leniency, the regime has no choice but to let those fishermen go. They started the whole thing.
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