Chunghwa Telecom has announced a strategic partnership with Astranis on a dedicated MicroGEO satellite for Taiwan, supporting high-performance capacity for the country.

The satellite is expected to launch by the end of 2025, providing full bandwidth as early as next year, complementing existing networks in use across the country such as the ST-2 GEO satellite, OneWeb’s LEO constellation, and SES’s O3b mPOWER MEO network, adding resilience to the country’s ‘sea to sky’ network.

“Astranis’s MicroGEO solution introduces vital flexibility and resilience to our satellite strategy,” said Chunghwa Telecom chairman, Dr. Alex C.C. Chien. “This collaboration enables us to build a dedicated, secure digital infrastructure for Taiwan—one that can serve as a critical real-time backup against natural disasters, submarine cable disruptions, and evolving global uncertainties.”

Astranis develops microGeo satellites - satellites in geostationary orbits that are much smaller than traditional machines at such high orbits. Astranis' satellites are often measured in the hundreds of kilograms, compared to traditional GEO machines that can weigh multiple tons.

"The satellite we’re bringing to Taiwan represents resilience. It will serve as a critical backbone for cellular connectivity, maritime communications, and essential government services across Taiwan," Astranis CEO John Gedmark said on LinkedIn. "And it will ensure that Chunghwa Telecom’s network remains operational in times of crisis, whether in the face of natural disasters or other disruptions to terrestrial infrastructure."

In March 2024, Astranis announced a similar project with Orbith, producing another national MicroGEO satellite, in this case for the Argentinian people, supporting hospitals and schools as well as ordinary consumers.

Thaicom has also ordered a GEO satellite from Astranis to launch in 2025. Additionally, the company had plans to launch two satellites over the Philippines in 2024 with local telco Orbits Corp, with an additional two satellites set to launch for Mexican firm Apco Networks. US-based mobile satellite connectivity specialist Anuvu (again for two machines) and Peruvian cellular backhaul provider Andesat have also ordered satellites from Astranis.

Since geopolitical tensions heated up following the onset of the war in Ukraine, Taiwan has begun voicing its efforts to develop satellite infrastructure for a variety of reasons, including the ability to track Chinese incursions.

“Our primary concern is facilitating societal resilience, to make sure, for example, that journalists can send videos to international viewers even during a large-scale disaster,” Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister told the Financial Times in January 2023, but insisting that the nation didn’t want to “tie ourselves to any particular satellite provider,” instead opting to work with as many as possible to hedge their bets.

While Taiwan has previously expressed interest in a system akin to Starlink, as has long served Ukraine, MicroGEO will prove a lower-cost solution.

“Small GEO satellite constellations can offer low-cost connectivity to customers with the lowest cost ground infrastructure,” Mike Kaliski, chief technical officer at Swissto12, a satellite systems developer exploring small GEO, previously told DCD. “The future will be built on integrated networks that combine the best services based on a delivery through the combination of LEO, MEO, and GEO assets.”

In February this year, the Taiwanese coastguard detained the eight Chinese crewmembers of a freighter after Chunghwa Telecom reported that a key undersea cable had been severed off the coast of Penghu, damaging national communication lines.

“Whether it was an intentional act of sabotage or purely an accident needs to be further probed,” reported the Taiwanese coast guard in the statement. Beijing subsequently accused Taipei of manipulating the incident for political purposes, inflating a “common” maritime accident to escalate tensions.