Sea vessels from neighboring countries have repeatedly damaged submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper with outlying islands, a budget review report published by the National Audit Office showed.
Communication between Taiwan proper and outlying islands depends mainly on underwater cable communication systems, supplemented by microwave transmission and satellite systems, the report says.
Once underwater cable system malfunctions, it can severely affect communication among Taiwan proper, Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, it says.
Photo: Taipei Times file
The nation has 10 domestic submarine cables, all invested, constructed and maintained by Chunghwa Telecom, the report says.
There were 36 cases of damage caused by external forces from 2019 to last year, with an average of about seven submarine cable failures per year, it says.
Twelve submarine cable failures were recorded last year alone, the most in the past five years, the report says.
“It is reported the damage was mainly caused by the operation or anchoring of various vessels, such as sand dredgers, fishing boats and merchant ships from neighboring countries. Repairs can sometimes take more than four months to complete, which greatly affects the lives of people on the outlying islands,” it says.
Among the damaged cables is the No. 2 undersea telecom cable connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) and Lienchiang County’s Dongyin Island (東引), which was suspected of being damaged by a fishing boat anchoring on Feb. 2 last year, it says.
Another cable, connecting Caota (草漯) in Taoyuan and Lienchiang County’s Nangan Island (南竿), the No. 3 cable, was suspected of being damaged by a cargo ship on Feb. 8, resulting in the congestion of mobile communications and Internet services for more than 10,000 households in Matsu, it says.
The incident seriously affected the operations of government agencies, financial transactions, medical services and transportation, it says.
“The National Communications Commission says it has asked telecoms to reduce the risk of submarine cable damage through multiple protection mechanisms, including conducting telecom traffic diversion drills and replacing submarine cables in sections with higher failure rates. The capacity of the microwave backup system would continue to be expanded as well,” the report says.
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