A Taiwan analyst warned against relying too heavily on one satellite-services company after restrictions on Starlink use were reported to have disrupted Ukrainian drone operations. In a report published October 24, 2026, the South China Morning Post quoted Shu Hsiao-huang, a senior analyst at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research, warning that Taiwan should avoid becoming overly dependent on a single provider.
Taiwan’s satellite backup work
Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) has described several satellite contingency projects. In 2022, the ministry began a two-year verification project using low-Earth-orbit (LEO) and medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) satellites to test contingency communications. LEO and MEO refer to satellites operating in different orbital bands.
On Taiping Island, MODA and its partners installed SES mPower MEO equipment and established satellite-linked Wi-Fi and mobile service with Chunghwa Telecom. MODA reported the services’ launch on April 16, 2024, with total transmission bandwidth of up to 25 Mbps, about 3.9 times the island’s previous communications capacity. MODA’s account of the Taiping Island service and verification project
MODA also reported that 773 LEO satellite reception stations had been installed at key military, police and fire-service locations. The ministry described them as disaster-backup communications. MODA’s report on the 773 reception stations
