Two undersea cables connecting Lienchiang County (Matsu) with Taiwan proper were disrupted due to “natural deterioration” and could be repaired by next month, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today.
The No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cable was obstructed on Wednesday last week, and the No. 2 Taiwan-Matsu cable was disrupted this morning at 5am, Chunghwa Telecom said today.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs held a news conference at 11am to explain the situation.
Photo: Taipei Times
Chunghwa Telecom activated microwave communications within one hour of the second cable’s disruption at the ministry’s request, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Chiueh Her-ming (闕河鳴) said.
Communications should not be impacted, as the current microwave bandwidth is 12.6Gbps, which is higher than Matsu’s daily peak bandwidth of 9.5Gbps, Chiueh said.
Bandwidth would be prioritized for essential public services such as government agencies, banks and hospitals to ensure they are not disrupted, he said.
During the Lunar New Year holiday, people could still withdraw money from ATMs and online transactions would remain uninterrupted, he added.
The ministry has nine asynchronous satellite devices in Matsu that would serve as backup microwave channels for the Lienchiang County Government, Chiueh said.
No “suspicious” ships were detected when the cables went offline, he said.
Natural deterioration was the likely cause, but cases of ships damaging Taiwan's sea cables have risen in recent years, he added.
So far this year, Taiwan has reported four cases of disruptions in undersea cables, compared with only three both last year and in 2023, Chiueh said.
In 2023, the two undersea cables connecting Lienchiang were cut, disconnecting the Internet.
Authorities said two Chinese vessels caused the disruption, but that there was no evidence that Beijing deliberately tampered with the cables.
Taiwan has since worked to boost its communication resilience for emergencies including a conflict with China, such as a trial program to use low-Earth orbit satellites for remote areas including Lienchiang.
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