TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan will for the first time join the United States, Japan, and Australia in an undersea cable project for Tuvalu, reports said Thursday (April 11).
Tuvalu is one of Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies, which mostly include small island nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Ambassador Andrew Lin (林東亨) said the ally would obtain a clean Internet, with cyber security and improved telecommunications present right from the outset, per CNA.
Tuvalu now relies on satellites, with expensive services often disrupted by poor weather conditions and by the inadequate availability of frequencies. Since 2021, Taiwan has been helping Tuvalu with the construction of a 4G LTE basic network, Lin said.
The project was followed by a feasibility study last year to link the country to the outside world using undersea cables. The connection, managed by Google, will run from Guam to French Polynesia, with a branch connecting 14 Pacific countries.