A local internet service provider said repair work on the S1H branch of the disaster-prone Asia America Gateway (AAG), which suffered a disruption in the section connecting to Ho Chi Minh City, about 163 kilometers from the shore off Vung Tau, was completed on Thursday.

Repair of the S1I branch connecting Vietnam and Hong Kong, which experienced a breakdown on December 22, slowing down internet speed on international websites, is expected to be completed next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the problem with the Asia Africa Europe (AAE-1) cable, which faced disruptions last month, will be fixed between January 22 and January 27.

Issues with branches of the Intra Asia (IA) cable connecting Vietnam with Hong Kong and other parts of Asia, which experienced technical problems last month, are expected to be resolved January 29 - February 3.

Problems with the three cables caused a loss of 30 percent of Vietnam's international internet transmission capacity last month.

With the repairs coming to an end, the capacity will be mostly restored before the Lunar New Year festival, which peaks on January 25.

However, the repair plan can change depending on weather conditions at sea, said internet service providers.

Vietnam currently has six submarine cable systems, as well as a 120 gigabit channel that runs overland through China.

Connected in November 2009, the $560-million AAG handles more than 60 percent of the country’s international internet traffic. The system runs more than 20,000 kilometers (12,420 miles), connecting Southeast Asia and the U.S., passing through Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The AAE-1 is a 25,000 km submarine communications cable system from Southeast Asia to Europe across Egypt, connecting Hong Kong, Vietnam and other parts of Asia.

The 6,800km (4,225 miles) IA cable was installed in November 2009, connecting Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Vietnam's average broadband speed is 10 times slower than Singapore's 70.86 Mbps, a third of Malaysia's 23.86 Mbps and half that of Thailand's (18.21 Mbps).