Chunghwa Telecom announced on Friday that the Taiwan-Matsu submarine cable (Taima No. 4) has been activated, adding redundancy and resilience to the Internet connection in the island nation’s outlying islands.
The Matsu Islands are located in the Taiwan Strait, just a few kilometers off the southeastern coast of mainland China and close to the city of Fuzhou in Fujian Province. They form part of Lienchiang County, which is the smallest county in Taiwan.
The new Taima No. 4 subsea cable, which is partly subsidized by the Taiwanese government, was built at a cost of 1.4 billion New Taiwanese dollars (US$44 million). The 300-kilometer cable connects Bali District in New Taipei with Dongyin, Nangan and Juguang townships in Lienchiang County.
It was constructed following the cable breaks at the Taima No. 2 and Taima No. 3 in February 2023, which disrupted data transmissions for almost two months. These high-profile incidents were caused by a Chinese fishing boat and a cargo ship. In 2025, these two subsea cables went down again, this time due to “natural deterioration.”
According to Chunghwa Telecom, Taima No. 4 provides an additional communications route, reducing the risk of significant future disruptions and improving the overall reliability of the Internet for Matsu residents.
With the addition of Taima No. 4, total transmission capacity in the Taiwan-Matsu route has increased to 1.9 Tbit/s.
To ensure the Matsu Islands remain connected in the event of a subsea cable failure, Chunghwa Telecom has installed backup systems comprising microwave and satellite communications.
‘Pre-emptive preparations’
During the lighting-up ceremony for Taima No. 4, Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai said that the new subsea cable was intended to strengthen communication resilience, describing it as part of “pre-emptive preparations.”
He said that the new subsea communications cable was part of the government’s efforts to stabilize and bolster data transmission and ensure continuity during natural disasters or man-made events.
“Looking ahead, whether it is subsea cables, microwaves, or low-orbit satellites, capacity will far exceed demand here. We’re making pre-emptive preparations,” Cho said, as quoted by Focus Taiwan.
