Global low-Earth-orbit satellite communication services are rapidly gaining traction, but Starlink still has not officially launched commercial operations in Taiwan, triggering a new round of policy disputes. In a post, cacaFly co-founder and chairman Nathan Chiu directly pointed out that, like Taiwan with China, North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria, and other places, Taiwan remains among the “service coverage gaps” in Asia for the Starlink network. The difference, he said, is that the former countries often block Starlink proactively due to political isolation, sanctions, or national security reasons, while Taiwan is “blocking itself” because of regulatory requirements and negotiation conditions.
In response, Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-ching said Starlink had already come to Taiwan in 2021 to negotiate with the NCC, but the talks broke down because Taiwan’s Telecommunications Management Act, Article 36, limits foreign ownership in telecommunications operators, and Starlink at the time insisted on 100% wholly-owned operations in Taiwan. Lin Yi-ching also said the ministry recently proactively contacted Starlink, but Starlink replied that Taiwan is a small country with a dense population, and that 4G and 5G population coverage in Taiwan exceeds 99%, so Taiwan was not considered a high-priority market.
Taiwan can build Starlink terminals, but can’t use them
Nathan Chiu’s core criticism is that Taiwan, despite being located in a high geopolitical-risk region, has not obtained official service from Starlink, the world’s largest low-Earth-orbit satellite network. This is not just a consumer convenience issue, but also a communications resilience and national security issue.
He noted that in recent years Starlink has been widely adopted for aviation, rural areas, battlefields, and maritime communications. From the battlefield in Ukraine to remote islands in the Philippines, and then to Japan’s mountain regions and airplane cabins, low-Earth-orbit satellites are no longer merely a technological novelty, but a critical backup when terrestrial networks go down. Especially for Taiwan as an island, relying on undersea cables and terrestrial base stations, once war, earthquakes, or undersea cable damage occur, low-Earth-orbit satellites should be a basic configuration for communications resilience.
His comments also reflect Taiwan’s policy anxiety in recent years. Taiwan has reportedly been in talks with Amazon Kuiper regarding satellite network cooperation. One of the purposes is to strengthen communications resilience in the face of risks of attacks from China. The chairman of the National Science and Technology Council, Wu Cheng-wen, also previously said that the existing OneWeb bandwidth is insufficient, and that Kuiper is one of the Western replacement options that has made comparatively faster progress.
Nathan Chiu further said Taiwan is stuck with Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act. The article stipulates that for public telecommunications network operators using telecommunications resources, direct foreign shareholding may not exceed 49%, direct plus indirect shareholding may not exceed 60%, and the chairperson must hold the nationality of the Republic of China.
But in fact, many countries have similar provisions. Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act sets that for NFP/NSP licenses, foreign investment cannot exceed 49%; South Africa’s BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) law requires telecom operators with foreign investors to have 30% local ownership (historically discriminated groups). Yet for Starlink, the Malaysian government directly exercised the statutory exemption power of the communications minister; in July 2023 it issued a 10-year commercial license. South Africa’s Minister of Digital Communications directly announced the policy direction and an alternative solution beyond the 30% threshold to allow Starlink to enter.
OneWeb, Kuiper, Telesat have value, but cannot replace Starlink’s scale
Nathan Chiu also acknowledged that Taiwan is not completely without plans for low-Earth-orbit satellites. Chunghwa Telecom has collaborated with Eutelsat OneWeb, and in June 2025 obtained a OneWeb low-Earth-orbit fixed communication commercial license, becoming the first operator in Taiwan to secure this kind of commercial authorization.
Chunghwa Telecom is also continuing to build a multi-orbit satellite redundancy system. In addition to OneWeb low-Earth-orbit satellites, it later obtained SES O3b medium-Earth-orbit fixed communication operating commercial licenses as well, integrating high-orbit, medium-orbit, and low-Earth-orbit satellites into a key infrastructure and disaster-preparedness redundancy solution.
However, Nathan Chiu’s question is that the positioning of these plans is not the same as Starlink. OneWeb is more focused on governments, enterprises, and critical infrastructure, not large-scale consumer services; Amazon Kuiper / Amazon Leo have not yet officially and fully launched commercial operations; and Telesat Lightspeed is still in the early phase of launching and deployment.
If the issue is whether “government agencies have redundancy,” OneWeb may offer an answer; but if the issue is whether “in wartime, for 23 million people, for outlying islands, fishing vessels, rural areas, drones, aviation, and new startup applications, is there enough low-latency satellite network,” he believes the answer is still not optimistic.
He also used Japan as a comparison. In April 2025, KDDI and Okinawa Cellular launched au Starlink Direct, allowing supported devices to connect directly to Starlink satellites without needing ground base station signals. It initially supported 50 phone models and required no additional application.
In August 2025, KDDI further expanded into data communication services, aiming to provide more stable connectivity in mountainous areas, outlying islands, and disaster scenarios.
Therefore, Nathan Chiu criticized that while Japan’s four major telecom operators have already comprehensively deployed phone direct-to-satellite, Taiwan’s three major telecom operators still have no clear timeline for Starlink direct connectivity. This is not only a problem of consumers getting “slower in-flight Wi-Fi” or “poor mountain-area signal,” but may affect the space for experimentation in emerging applications such as aviation competitiveness, connectivity for rural areas, resilience for outlying islands, drone communications, and AI edge computing.
Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-ching: Starlink once requested 100% wholly owned; it conflicts with Taiwan’s regulations
In response to the criticisms, Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-ching broke the issue into three layers: regulatory restrictions, Starlink’s own negotiation stance, and the fact that Taiwan is not only betting on a single supplier.
Lin Yi-ching said Starlink had come to Taiwan to negotiate to provide services as early as 2021, before the ministry was established, but the talks ultimately broke down. The reason was that, under Taiwan’s Telecommunications Management Act Article 36, foreign investors must operate telecommunications businesses through agents, with direct shareholding not exceeding 49%; however, Starlink at the time insisted on requiring 100% wholly owned operations in Taiwan.
He also revealed that the ministry recently proactively contacted Starlink to ask whether it still has the willingness to come to Taiwan to provide services, and what terms Starlink wanted. Starlink replied that Taiwan is small with dense population, and that population coverage for 4G and 5G already exceeds 99%, so Taiwan was not listed as a high-priority market. Lin Yi-ching said this could be Starlink’s real thinking, or it could just be a negotiation strategy, but the ministry will continue discussions.
As for whether to amend Telecommunications Management Act Article 36, Lin Yi-ching said the ministry holds an open and proactive attitude, but the主管機關 supervising telecommunications law is still the NCC, and the ministry must respect the主管機關.
Lin Yi-ching: Amazon Leo and AST SpaceMobile are both preparing to enter Taiwan
Lin Yi-ching also emphasized that Taiwan is not only waiting for Starlink. According to his statement, Amazon Leo is regarded as Starlink’s biggest future competitor. It has already launched more than 300 low-Earth-orbit satellites and is expected to deploy more than 3,200 satellites by 2028. Amazon Leo is expected to provide global commercial services in the first half of next year, and Taiwan is also within its coverage. Taiwan is currently actively working with Taiwan’s代理商, and there is no requirement for Taiwan to amend Telecommunications Management Act Article 36.
He also mentioned technical differences for Amazon Leo. Between Amazon Leo satellites, relay communications can be carried out via laser links, so there is no need to connect immediately to a terrestrial Gateway after receiving user signals. Therefore, even if neighboring countries near Taiwan do not have ground stations set up, in emergencies it can still relay via satellites to websites in the United States, Japan, or other regions.
In addition, Lin Yi-ching also mentioned AST SpaceMobile. In March 2026, Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom announced that it signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation for low-Earth-orbit satellite communications services with AST SpaceMobile at MWC. The plan is to promote the operation of space base stations in Taiwan in coordination with existing mobile networks, filling connectivity gaps in remote areas, at sea, and in communications coverage needs during disasters or emergencies.
Lin Yi-ching said both Starlink and Amazon claim they will provide direct-to-phone satellite services. However, because the distance between low-Earth-orbit satellites and the ground is still about 500 kilometers, phone signals are relatively weak and bandwidth may be smaller in the short term, making them mainly suitable for transmitting text messages. AST SpaceMobile, on the other hand, uses large satellite antennas and focuses on providing broadband capability for direct-to-phone internet, but its technical maturity and launch speed still need to be observed.
Core of the controversy: whether Taiwan should modify the foreign shareholding limits for Starlink
The real core of this controversy is whether Taiwan should re-examine foreign shareholding limits in telecommunications for Starlink-like global critical communications infrastructure.
Nathan Chiu’s position leans toward “open the regulations first, and throw the ball back to Starlink.” He believes that since Taiwan has urgent needs for wartime redundancy, communications for outlying islands, aviation Wi-Fi, connectivity for rural areas, and industrial innovation, Taiwan should not exclude the world’s largest low-Earth-orbit satellite service due to foreign shareholding limits. If, after loosening, Starlink still refuses to provide service to Taiwan, then the responsibility would truly return to Elon Musk and SpaceX.
Lin Yi-ching’s position leans more toward “multi-supplier deployment and negotiation strategy.” He did not deny the possibility of amending the law, but emphasized that the主管機關 is the NCC, and that alternative options such as Amazon Leo, AST SpaceMobile, and OneWeb are also moving forward. For the government, low-Earth-orbit satellites involve commercial services, communications resilience, and national security, so success or failure cannot be judged solely by whether a single product enters Taiwan, nor can Taiwan’s communications resilience be fully pinned on one company—Musk’s.
This article Why can’t Taiwan use Starlink? Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-ching: stuck on foreign shareholding restrictions in Telecommunications Management Act Article 36 was first published on 鏈新聞 ABMedia.
