Taiwan is to partner with satellite provider SES of Luxembourg on a project aimed at improving the resiliency of the nation’s digital communications networks, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said on Wednesday.
SES, an operator of geostationary and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, has been confirmed as a cooperation partner for the project, which includes the establishment of 773 satellite terminals at home and abroad by the end of next year, the ministry said.
To bolster the nation’s digital infrastructure, the ministry earlier this year rolled out a program for the digital resilience validation of emerging technologies for contingency or wartime applications, which aims to confirm the feasibility of using a nonsynchronous satellite network as an emergency backup network.
Photo: Taipei Times
The Telecom Technology Center was selected to lead the execution of the project, which the ministry said aims to ensure the reliable transmission of critical commands and emergency evacuation information during urgent situations.
The program mainly relies on low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to maintain Internet connectivity in the event of an emergency, but if LEO satellites are not available, they could be replaced by MEO satellites, the ministry said.
Under the project, it is hoped that each terminal can be connected to more than two satellites, it added.
SES is the second satellite operator to be linked to Taiwan’s digital resilience project, after UK-based OneWeb.
Following a visit to OneWeb’s London headquarters in June, Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said she learned that the firm was “more than willing” to participate in the project.
Synchronous, LEO and MEO satellite communication companies are all welcome to participate in the project, provided they comply with Taiwan’s national security and information security regulations, the ministry said.
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