Taiwan is about to do what no other country or company has managed: create an alternative to Starlink, the satellite internet run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Starlink can work almost anywhere, but Taiwan fundamentally does not want to use Musk’s technology.
Instead, the island’s government will invest in its own companies and research to create a competitor to Starlink. But this path will be very difficult, even despite Taiwan’s technological capabilities.
Taiwan wants to independently control satellite Internet on its territory
Matsu Island
Taiwan is not just one island in the Pacific Ocean. In fact, the Republic of China (Taiwan) controls many more small islands, some of which are within the borders of the Chinese coast.
All islands are connected to the Internet using underwater drawings. These cables constantly detect threat threats.
For example, on the island of Matsu, about 30 Internet outages have been recorded since 2017 due to problems with underwater cables. Cables pull anchors from the sound and trawl nets. In the spring of 2023, one of the islands was left without Internet after another cable break. Its repair took almost a month.
Cell towers on Matsu Island
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine brought another issue to the attention of the Taiwanese government: much of Ukraine’s telecommunications system was instantly weaponized. This led to the Ukrainian military becoming independent from the Starlink satellite Internet.
Relations between Taiwan and China have become particularly tense in recent years, and talk of war between them is no longer uncommon. Taiwan’s leaders understand that in the event of a crisis in China, their Internet could quickly stop working, so an alternative is needed.
It would seem that Starlink satellite Internet is ideal for this role. But because Elon Musk has long been doing business in China and Tesla has a large plant in the country, Taiwanese officials doubt that Musk will help in an emergency.
Even if the cost of creating it is high, in a special case the value will be stored in its own groups. [спутников] unlimited.
Liao Yung-Huang, Director of the Industrial Technology Research Institute
Therefore, Taiwan decided to create its own satellite Internet, which will not be from any state.
Moreover, he Elon Musk refused to cooperate with Taiwan following a proposal to form a joint venture with a local company which would have an exclusive controlling interest.
Satellite Internet requires large investments and time
Starlink satellite terminal
With high costs, Taiwan spends at least several billion dollars on research, development and launch of satellites.
Taiwan’s government has said it wants to send its first communications satellite into orbit by 2026 and a second two years later. By 2028, four more test satellites should be created on the island. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen allocated $1.3 billion for this purpose.
In parallel, the Taiwanese government entered into an agreement with the Luxembourg company SES to develop 700 terminals capable of receiving satellite signals. Similar terminals will be developed by the Taiwanese operator Chunghwa Telecom together with Eutelsat OneWeb.
We need to invest in multiple systems. We can’t put all our eggs in the basket.
Isuo Tseng, Research Fellow, Institute of Homeland Security and Security Studies
Satellite Internet can also make Taiwan a leader in the production of equipment for its operation. Now 40 companies on the island produce products for satellite Internet.
We are currently strong in semiconductors and electronics, but space is the new industry where we can leverage those strengths.
Yu-Jiu Wang, founder of startup Tron Future
One of the main problems Taiwan faces is launching a rocket with satellites. Taiwan does not have its own missiles; in this matter, the government has always sought the assistance of the United States.
But this does not change the fact that launching a rocket is expensive. A large rocket can only be used once and requires a certain amount of fuel to do so. As a result, the cost of launch becomes very high for many countries that want to have their own satellite Internet.
There are no guarantees that Taiwan will be able to create its own satellite Internet.
Launch of a SpaceX rocket carrying Starlink satellites
SpaceX has completed five years of launching its 1,000th satellite. Today, Starlink dominates the satellite internet market, something it seriously lacks.
Musk has repeatedly stated that in a few years his satellite network will cover the entire globe, and the Internet itself will work much faster.
The founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, Jeffos, is also interested in satellite Internet, but his company cannot yet boast of significant achievements. While SpaceX controlled more than half of the active satellites in Earth’s orbit, Amazon launched only two.
The British company OneWeb has also sent more than 600 satellites into space. But this led to the bankruptcy of OneWeb, after which the company and its satellites were bought by the French Eutelsat.
SpaceX’s advantage over competitors The main thing is the availability of good reusable rockets. This allows the company to save a lot of money when launching a satellite.
But even for other companies, launching satellites through SpaceX is more profitable than using their own rockets. Thus, in December 2023, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin announced that it would launch satellites into orbit using the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
It is possible that Taiwan will also turn to SpaceX to launch a conventional satellite.
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
