Taiwan’s Race for Secure Internet Detours Around Musk’s Starlink

SpaceX operates the world’s most powerful satellite-internet system near Earth. It still hasn’t reached Taiwan. The island democracy is racing to ensure that its government, military and people could stay online in the event of an invasion or blockade by China. SpaceX’s Starlink network, with some 6,500 satellites in low-Earth-orbit providing high-speed internet from Kyiv to Vanuatu, would appear to be Taiwan’s most reliable option. Taiwan officials have discovered that assembling an alternative is proving an expensive and challenging endeavor. At the moment, Starlink satellite internet isn’t an option. SpaceX said that Starlink isn’t on the ground in Taiwan today simply because it doesn’t have a license—adding that it can’t abide by a regulation requiring local majority ownership of any satellite internet provider. Taiwan’s digital ministry said it “welcomes all sorts of international satellite systems to enter the Taiwanese market.” Any company can apply if it complies with Taiwanese law, the ministry added, without naming Starlink. Applications from four companies, three based in Taiwan and one in the U.S., have been approved, the ministry said. But in Taiwan, potential barriers to Starlink go beyond regulations.