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.”
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS