Taiwan could get 24-hour LEO satellite coverage by end of October: CHT

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Signals from low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites should cover all of Taiwan around the clock by the end of October, telecom provider Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) said Sunday in anticipation of making satellite services available in Taiwan.

Chunghwa Telecom signed an exclusive distribution partner agreement for LEO satellite services in Taiwan with London-based Eutelsat OneWeb in November 2023 to make Taiwan less dependent on submarine cables for external connectivity.

Work to bring that to fruition has continued since then, with access to the satellites to go through ground stations in Japan, Thailand and Guam, said Chunghwa Telecom Chairman Alex C.C. Chien (簡志誠) at a company event.

There had been an issue with the receiving stations in Thailand, Chien said, but that has been resolved, which should allow Taiwan to have satellite coverage 24 hours a day throughout the island by the end of this month.

Despite that progress, Taiwan still does not have the ground stations needed to complete the infrastructure needed for commercial applications of the satellite services, Chien said.

He said the Ministry of Digital Affairs plans to complete the construction of 700 satellite ground stations functioning as hotspots within Taiwan's territory by the end of this year.

Once the installation of those stations has been completed, satellite services will become available, and Taiwan's communications network will be more resilient to breakdowns in the existing network due to natural disasters or other disruptions, Chien said.

Commercial satellite services can also be marketed if there is enough bandwidth, according to Chien.

To further enhance the resilience of the national communications network, Chunghwa Telecom -- Taiwan's largest telecom service provider -- also signed an exclusive agency contract with SES in August 2024 to bring advanced medium-earth orbit (MEO) satellite services to Taiwan.