Internet service in Lienchiang County should return to normal by the end of April after an international cable maintenance ship on April 20 begins repairing broken undersea connections around the Matsu Islands, the National Communications Commission said yesterday.
Lienchiang County’s online access is served by two marine cables — Taima No. 2 (台馬二號) cable connecting Dongyin (東引) Island to New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), and Taima No. 3 (台馬三號) cable connecting Nangan Island to Taoyuan.
Both cables were damaged separately on Feb. 2 and Wednesday last week leaving residents with slow Internet connections and unstable phone service.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
The Taima No. 2 cable was broken by a Chinese fishing boat, while the Taima No. 3 was damaged by a cargo ship, the commission said.
The incidents mark the second time that the two cables were broken within a short period.
Prior to the incident, the Lienchiang cables were frequently damaged by Chinese sand pump dredgers.
“It would take more than 10 minutes to send a text message, and sending a picture would take even longer,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Lienchiang County chapter director Li Wen (李問) told the Taipei Times.
“The booking system in hostels and logistics services cannot function normally either, let alone viewing content and films on social media,” Li said.
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) maintained service between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County through a microwave backup system, which transmits telecom signals from a ground station in Yangmingshan National Park, Commission Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) told the Taipei Times.
Commission officials, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) inspected the microwave system on Tuesday, Wong said.
The company was asked to accelerate and stabilize Internet and phone services for Lienchiang County residents by expanding the bandwidth, he said.
The microwave backup system offers a speed of 2.2 gigabits per second (Gbps), Wong said.
CHT is aiming to expand the bandwidth to 3.8 Gpbs next month, 4.382 Gpbs in June and 8.148 Gpbs by the end of this year, Wong said.
Cable communication from Matsu to Taiwan has a speed of 8 to 9 Gbps, he added.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs is offering additional frequency bands to help the telecom expand the microwave system, Wong said.
CHT yesterday said it would waive monthly fees for Lienchiang County subscribers of its fixed network, Hinet, on-demand media and mobile services this month.
Undersea cables connecting Lienchiang County islands with Taiwan proper were damaged five times in 2021 and four times last year, CHT said.
The cost of repairing one cable varies from NT$10 million to NT$20 million (US$330,251 to US$660,502) CHT said, adding that the operation of a cable maintenance ship costs US$40,000 per day.
CHT said that it is considering installing an alert system to help it identify culpable parties that damage the cables.
The KMT caucus told a news conference that the undersea cables are basic national infrastructure, and could cause a national security crisis when both are broken.
The incident also exposed the fragility of the basic infrastructure in Matsu, the caucus said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus accused China of deliberately damaging the cables considering how often they are broken.
“Beijing should stop its ships from harassing Taiwan and Lienchiang County,” the DPP caucus said. “We also ask the KMT Deputy Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) to protest the incident when meeting with Chinese officials, rather than following their political agenda.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as