Taipei: A submarine cable connecting Taiwan's main island to its outlying Matsu islands, which had been disconnected since January, has been fully restored, as confirmed by the telecom provider responsible for the cable.
According to Focus Taiwan, the repairs on the Taiwan-Matsu No. 3 fiber-optic cable, which initially broke down on January 15, were finalized in the early hours of Sunday, as per a news release from Chunghwa Telecom. The fiber optic telecommunications line between Taiwan proper and the Matsu islands, officially known as Lienchiang County, has already resumed operations, the company announced.
Efforts to repair the cable had been underway since the end of February, when an international undersea cable repair vessel arrived in Taiwan. However, the ship faced challenges, frequently returning to harbor due to rough waters in the Taiwan Strait, exacerbated by the winter northeasterly monsoon.
Despite the breakage of the Taiwan-Matsu No. 3 cable in January, Chunghwa Telecom stated that telecommunications between Taiwan and Matsu remained unaffected. This was achieved by rerouting traffic through other submarine cables and utilizing microwave transmissions.
On January 22, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) attributed the cable damage and that of another connecting Taiwan and Matsu to natural deterioration. The recent surge in undersea cable issues around Taiwan has fueled speculation that China might be conducting "gray zone" operations targeting Taiwan's telecommunications infrastructure.
In a related incident, an undersea cable linking Taiwan's main island to its offshore Penghu County was severed on February 25. Following the incident, a Chinese crew aboard a Togolese-registered vessel, which had been near the cable's disconnection point, was detained by Taiwan's coast guard officers. The crew is currently under investigation by prosecutors in Tainan, southern Taiwan.