After signing a multi-million-dollar deal with Taiwan’s government-backed Chunghwa Telecom last year, Eutalsat OneWeb’s low orbit satellite service turned out to be inadequate for the country’s needs, a Taiwanese official said on Tuesday.
To counter the potential cyber attacks geared toward its mobile and internet infrastructure, Taiwan is in talks with Amazon to provide its satellite service “Project Kuiper” as a defensive measure.
Taiwan is looking for a backup for its communications infrastructure amid tensions with China and threats from Beijing to its infrastructure. The move follows last year’s multi-million-dollar partnership between state-owned Chunghwa Telecom and Eutelsat OneWeb.
In a press briefing with foreign media on Tuesday, Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) revealed that the country is seeking various international partnerships.
Wu said Taiwan is currently cooperating with Eutalsat OneWeb on low-Earth orbit satellite communications, but the bandwidth is “too small” for what the country needs and has financial problems. OneWeb penned the multi-million-dollar partnership with Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom last year, with plans to deploy 600 hotspots and establish comprehensive communication coverage by 2024.
The partnership with Taiwan aimed to provide full coverage by the end of October, with plans to continue to build 5G, optical fiber and undersea cable infrastructure to enhance network resilience, and actively integrate information and communication technology and AI technologies while strategically positioning for clients and international markets.
Taiwan plays a big role in the main supply chain for the “big four” of the low-Earth orbit satellite industry, SpaceX, Eutelsat OneWeb, Project Kuiper and Telesat.
As to why they are seeking a Project Kuiper partnership, Wu said “Amazon is one of the potential partners we can collaborate with and there are other companies in the Western world, including some from Europe and from North America, in Canada, also, and other countries. But Amazon Kuiper is the most mature in their development stage so far. So we are discussing it with them at this moment.”
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s effort to develop a constellation Starlink competitor. Amazon plans to deploy 3,236 satellites in low-Earth orbit to create a satellite internet network, providing high-speed network connectivity globally.
In August, Amazon announced an investment of $19.5 million to expand its satellite processing facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. This investment will be used to construct a 3,900 square meter auxiliary support facility, aimed at accelerating the deployment of the project’s broadband satellite constellation.
The Kuiper project is set to begin launching its satellite constellation soon, with expected low Earth orbit services to commence next year.
As for the other options the minister has mentioned, Telesat is another possibility. Invited by the Taiwan Space Agency to attend the Taiwan International Assembly of Space Science, Technology, and Industry a few weeks ago, Telesat’s Chief Commercial Officer Glenn Katz introduced their low-Earth orbit satellite program called “Lightspeed Constellation.”
Telesat first approached Taiwan in 2023. Katz had several meetings with various Taiwanese government agencies, including the Taiwan Space Agency, National Science and Technology Council, Ministry of Digital Affairs and Telecom Technology Center.
Telesat’s 198-satellite program is set to commence launches in mid-2026 with funding from the Canadian government. Polar and global services scheduled to initiate in late 2027.
Two corrections were made on January 20, 2025: The original headline’s wording (“Taiwan Backs Out of OneWeb Deal, Looks at Project Kuiper and Other Solutions Amid China Threats”) incorrectly suggested that the Taiwan government had cancelled its cooperation with Eutelsat OneWeb. This article does not say the Taiwanese government or Chunghwa Telecom will stop working with OneWeb. It says they may work with other constellations in addition to OneWeb. Second, the term “hotspots” was replaced with “satellites” to correct an editing error.
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