Why can't Taiwan use Elon Musk's Starlink? The Communications Department: Stuck due to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act

Taiwan’s low-Earth-orbit satellite policy has sparked controversy. Due to regulatory and shareholding restrictions, Starlink has not yet entered commercial operation. Industry critics say that the lack of this crucial redundancy would harm communications resilience and national security, while the Digital Development Ministry clarified that it is actively advancing a diversified layout, including OneWeb and Amazon Leo.

Although global low-Earth-orbit satellite communication services are rapidly gaining popularity, Starlink still has not officially commercialized in Taiwan to date, triggering a new wave of policy debate. In a post, cacaFly co-founder and chairman Nathan Chiu directly pointed out that Taiwan, just like China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Syria in Asia, remains in a service gap for Starlink. The difference, he said, is that the former are often blocked proactively due to political isolation, sanctions, or national security reasons, while Taiwan “blocks itself” due to regulations and negotiation conditions.

In response, Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-jing said that Starlink had come to Taiwan as early as 2021 to negotiate with the NCC, but the talks broke down because Taiwan’s Telecommunications Management Act Article 36 restricts foreign ownership in telecommunications services, and Starlink at the time insisted on operating in Taiwan with 100% wholly owned independence. Lin Yi-jing also said that the ministry has recently proactively contacted Starlink, but Starlink responded that Taiwan is small and densely populated, with 4G and 5G population coverage exceeding 99%, so it did not list Taiwan as 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 secured official service from Starlink—the world’s largest low-Earth-orbit satellite network. This is not only a consumer convenience issue, but also a communications resilience and national security issue.

He pointed out that in recent years, Starlink has been widely adopted for aviation, communications in remote areas, battlefield use, and maritime communications. From the battlefield in Ukraine to remote islands in the Philippines, and up to Japan’s mountainous regions and aircraft cabins, low-Earth-orbit satellites are no longer just technological toys, but a critical backup when terrestrial networks go down. Especially for Taiwan as an island nation—relying on submarine cables and ground base stations—once war breaks out, earthquakes occur, or undersea cables are damaged, low-Earth-orbit satellites should become a basic configuration for communications resilience.

His remarks also reflect Taiwan’s recent policy anxiety. Reports say Taiwan has been in talks with Amazon Kuiper about satellite network cooperation, with one of the goals being to strengthen communications resilience in the face of risks of Chinese attacks. The chairman of Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council, Wu Cheng-wen, has also said that existing OneWeb bandwidth is insufficient, and that Kuiper is one of the more advanced Western alternatives.

Nathan Chiu further pointed out that Taiwan is stuck on Telecommunications Management Act Article 36. The article stipulates that for public telecommunications network operators that use 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.

However, many countries have similar provisions. Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act limits foreign investment in NFP/NSP licenses to no more than 49%. South Africa’s BEE Black Economic Empowerment Act requires that foreign telecommunications operators must have 30% local ownership (historically discriminated groups). But to facilitate Starlink, the Malaysian government directly used the communications minister’s statutory exemption to issue a 10-year commercial license in July 2023. South Africa’s Minister of Digital Communications directly announced policy directions and alternative arrangements beyond the 30% local-ownership requirement, enabling Starlink to enter.

OneWeb, Kuiper, and Telesat have value, but they can’t replace Starlink at scale

Nathan Chiu also acknowledged that Taiwan is not completely without a low-Earth-orbit satellite layout. Chunghwa Telecom has partnered with Eutelsat OneWeb and obtained a OneWeb low-Earth-orbit fixed communications commercial operating permission in June 2025, becoming the first operator in Taiwan to obtain this type of commercial permission.

Chunghwa Telecom has continued building a multi-orbit satellite backup system. In addition to OneWeb low-Earth-orbit satellites, it has also obtained a SES O3b medium-Earth-orbit fixed communications commercial operating license, integrating high-orbit, medium-orbit, and low-orbit satellites into key infrastructure and disaster-resilience backup solutions.

But Nathan Chiu’s question is that these solutions are not positioned the same way as Starlink. OneWeb is more focused on backing up government, enterprises, and critical infrastructure—it is not a large-scale consumer service. Amazon Kuiper/Amazon Leo have not yet officially rolled out comprehensive commercial operations. Telesat Lightspeed is still in the earlier stages of launch and deployment.

If the issue is whether “government agencies have backup,” then OneWeb might have an answer. But if the question is whether “for a wartime scenario involving 23 million people, remote islands, fishing vessels, rural areas, drones, aviation, and emerging applications, there is sufficient low-latency satellite network capacity,” he believes the outlook 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 even when ground base station signals are unavailable. Initially, it supports 50 smartphone models and does not require additional applications.

KDDI then further expanded to data communications services in August 2025, highlighting more stable connectivity in mountainous areas, remote islands, and disaster scenarios.

Therefore, Nathan Chiu criticized that Japan’s four major telecom operators have comprehensively deployed direct-to-phone satellite connectivity, while Taiwan’s three major telecom operators still do not have a clear timeline for Starlink direct-to-satellite service. This is not only a consumer issue of “onboard Wi-Fi being slower” or “signals being poor in mountainous areas,” but could affect the trial-and-error space for emerging applications such as aviation competitiveness, rural connectivity, island resilience, drone communications, and AI edge computing.

Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-jing: Starlink once demanded 100% wholly owned investment, conflicting with Taiwan’s regulations

In response to the criticism, Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-jing broke the issue down into three layers: regulatory restrictions, Starlink’s own negotiation stance, and the fact that Taiwan is not only relying on a single supplier.

Lin Yi-jing said that Starlink had visited Taiwan to negotiate with the NCC as early as 2021, even before the Digital Development Ministry was established, to provide services—but the talks ultimately broke down. The reason was that under Taiwan’s Telecommunications Management Act Article 36, foreign investors must operate a telecommunications business through agents, and direct shareholding may not exceed 49%. However, Starlink at the time insisted on requiring 100% wholly owned operation in Taiwan.

He also said that the Digital Development Ministry recently proactively reached out to Starlink, asking whether it still had a willingness to come to Taiwan to provide services and what conditions it wanted. Starlink replied that Taiwan is small with a dense population, and that 4G and 5G population coverage already exceeds 99%, so it did not consider Taiwan a high-priority market. Lin Yi-jing said this could reflect Starlink’s real thinking, or it could just be a negotiation strategy, but the ministry continues to communicate.

As for whether Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act would be amended, Lin Yi-jing said the Digital Development Ministry maintains an open and proactive attitude, but the regulator of the telecommunications act is still the NCC, and the ministry must respect the competent authority.

Lin Yi-jing: Amazon Leo and AST SpaceMobile are also preparing to enter Taiwan

Lin Yi-jing also emphasized that Taiwan is not waiting only for Starlink. According to him, Amazon Leo is considered 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 before 2028. Amazon Leo is expected to provide global commercial services in the first half of next year, and Taiwan is within its coverage. It is currently actively working with Taiwan’s agents, and it has not requested Taiwan to amend Telecommunications Management Act Article 36.

He also mentioned the technical differences of Amazon Leo. Satellites in the Amazon Leo constellation can conduct relay communications via laser links between satellites, so they do not need to connect immediately to a ground Gateway after receiving user signals. Therefore, even if neighboring countries have not set up ground stations, in emergencies the connection can still be relayed via satellite to websites in the United States, Japan, or other regions.

In addition, Lin Yi-jing also mentioned AST SpaceMobile. In March 2026, Taiwan Mobile announced that at MWC it signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with AST SpaceMobile to promote the operation of space-based base stations in coordination with existing mobile networks in Taiwan. The initiative aims to fill coverage gaps in remote areas, at sea, and in communications for disaster or emergency situations.

Lin Yi-jing said that both Starlink and Amazon claim they will provide direct-to-phone satellite services, but because low-Earth-orbit satellites are still about 500 kilometers from the ground, phone signals are relatively weak and short-term bandwidth may be smaller—making them mainly suitable for text-message transmission. AST SpaceMobile, on the other hand, uses large satellite antennas and is positioned to provide broadband capability for direct-to-phone connectivity. However, its technology maturity and launch speed still need to be observed.

Core of the controversy: Should Taiwan modify foreign shareholding restrictions for Starlink?

The real core of this controversy is whether Taiwan should reconsider and review foreign-investment shareholding restrictions for Starlink-type global critical communications infrastructure.

Nathan Chiu’s stance leans toward “open the regulations first and pass the ball back to Starlink.” He believes that since Taiwan has urgent needs for wartime backup, island communications, aviation Wi-Fi, rural connectivity, and industry innovation, it should not exclude the world’s largest low-Earth-orbit satellite service due to foreign shareholding limits. Only if, after relaxing the rules, Starlink still refuses to provide services to Taiwan would the responsibility truly fall on Musk and SpaceX.

Lin Yi-jing’s position is more about “multi-supplier deployment and negotiation strategy.” He did not deny the possibility of legal amendments, but emphasized that the competent authority is the NCC. He also pointed out that alternative options such as Amazon Leo, AST SpaceMobile, and OneWeb are all moving forward. For the government, low-Earth-orbit satellites involve commercial services, communications resilience, and national security. Success or failure cannot be judged solely by whether a single product enters Taiwan, nor can Taiwan’s communications resilience be entirely pinned on one company, Musk’s.

• This article is reprinted with permission from 《Chain News》
• Original title: 《Why Can’t Taiwan Use Starlink? Digital Development Minister Lin Yi-jing: Stuck on Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act Restricting Foreign Shareholding》
• Original author: Neo