The United Kingdom Internet satellite company OneWeb, which is partially invested by the British government, is expected to provide coverage to the entire Taiwan by the end of 2023, a move that has overtones of "mutual defense" between the two sides in case of emergencies, an official said on Friday.
Currently, only the northern part of Taiwan is included in OneWeb's space-based Internet services powered by its low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellite, according to Taiwan's Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳).
OneWeb plans to roll out its satellite Internet services that will cover the entire Taiwan by the end of 2023, Tang told CNA in an interview on Friday in London, after her visit to the company's headquarters in the city.
During the visit, Tang said, she learned that OneWeb is "more than willing" to participate in a project being undertaken by Taiwan's government to ensure the operation of Taiwan's communication networks in the event of infrastructure damage during war or emergencies.
Under the project, the government plans to install non-geostationary satellite equipment, such as those that operate in low Earth orbit, at more than 700 testing locations within Taiwan and three overseas to verify the feasibility of using the technology to offer connectivity, according to Tang.
This is to ensure that information such as images can be transmitted from Taiwan to overseas in real-time, just as Ukraine was able to disseminate information to various countries despite facing aggression from Russia, she added.
If and when OneWeb formally joins the project, it will not only provide Taiwan with one more option of LEO communications satellites but also carry the significance of the U.K. supporting Taiwan in its defense against invasion, Tang said.
The U.K. government is one of the main investors of OneWeb of which it completed acquisition in November 2020 in a deal made in conjunction with leading international telecoms operator Bharti Global.
OneWeb signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Eutelsat, a French satellite operator, in July 2022 to merge the two companies, which is subject to U.K. and international regulatory approvals and expected to be completed in the
In October last year, Taiwan's government unveiled a B5G project focusing on components R&D for communication satellites and ground receiving stations in the hope of launching Taiwan's first LEO satellite in 2025 or 2026.
Under the project, set to begin this year, the government plans to expand the original plan of having two LEO satellites built by the government to "2+4," with the additional four being built through public-private collaboration initiatives.
According to Wu Jong-shinn (吳宗信), director-general of Taiwan Space Agency, preliminary simulations indicate that Taiwan needs approximately 120 LEO satellites to build a network to ensure uninterrupted communication around the clock.
Although Taiwan has possessed certain capabilities in the fields of ICT, 5G, and network communication, they are all limited to ground-based equipment, Wu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times in an interview on Friday.
The government hopes to make use of Taiwan's strengths in such fields to develop the technology of LEO satellite within a few years, bringing Taiwanese industry into the global LEO communication industry chain, Wu said.
