Internet service in Lienchiang County is to be slower than usual after damage was sustained to both undersea cables that connect with the outlying county, Chunghwa Telecom Co said on Wednesday.
A backup microwave transmission system has restored voice, national security and critical communications to normal, the telecom said.
However, mobile service, broadband and on-demand media would be slow due to the disruption, it added.
Photo courtesy of Chunghwa Telecom
An emergency request has been sent for an international cable repair vessel, although a timeline is unavailable, it said.
Network speeds would be slow county-wide, regardless of whether customers use Chunghwa or another telecom, National Communications Commission (NCC) spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
The NCC has received a report from Chunghwa about the situation and has requested that it restore services as soon as possible, Wong said.
However, it would take some time for the repair ship to arrive, so service would remain slow for a while, he added.
The disruption comes after Chunghwa Telecom reported a break in its No. 2 undersea telecom cable connecting Taiwan proper with Lienchiang County on Thursday last week.
A break was reported in the sea about 52km from the generator on Dongyin Island (東引), the terminus of the cable connected to New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), it said.
Service was automatically switched to the No. 3 cable, which runs from Taoyuan to Nangan Island (南竿), it said.
The No. 3 cable at 12:32pm on Wednesday was suspected to have been damaged by a freighter, downing both connections to the county, the telecom said.
These were not the only incidents in recent years. In 2021, a trawler damaged a telecom cable near the county.
Most of the incidents have occurred in the seas between Nangan and Juguang Township (莒光) due to fishing vessels and Chinese dredgers, Wong said.
However, this latest break happened between Lienchiang and Taiwan proper, he said, calling it unusual.
To prevent such disruptions, a fourth cable is in the works, with the second stage expected to be completed in 2025, Wong said.
The first cable is no longer in use.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to