Taiwan Amends Telecom Law, Paving Way for Starlink Operations
Hızlı Bakış
- Taiwan's legislature approved an amendment to the Telecommunications Management Act, exempting satellite operators from foreign ownership caps and local chair requirements.
- This move is seen as removing a major obstacle for Starlink to operate in Taiwan, enhancing the island's wartime communication capabilities.
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Taiwan's legislature approved an amendment to exempt satellite communications operators from foreign ownership caps and local chair requirements, following collapsed negotiations with Starlink in 2021 over its insistence on a wholly owned local business.
On Tuesday, the island’s legislature approved an amendment to the Telecommunications Management Act that would exempt satellite communications operators from foreign ownership caps and the requirement to have a Taiwanese chair.
The exemptions – which are subject to security and public interest checks – are widely seen as removing the biggest legal obstacle that has prevented Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX, from operating in Taiwan.
Negotiations with the island’s regulators collapsed in 2021 over the company’s insistence on operating a wholly owned local business.
For Taiwan, the significance went far beyond attracting another telecommunications provider, according to Chieh Chung, a research fellow at the Association of Strategic Foresight, a military think tank in Taipei.
Taiwan already works with Britain’s OneWeb to provide low Earth orbit satellite services, but Chieh said this would probably only be enough to support core military communications and those of some government agencies during wartime.
Açık Sorular
- Will Starlink now operate in Taiwan?
- What are the specific security and public interest checks?
- How quickly will these services be implemented?
