Taiwan turns to Astranis for its first dedicated comms satellite

The satellite will launch by the end of 2025, with full bandwidth availability next year. It will be the first communications satellite ever exclusively dedicated to Taiwan.

It will provide a real-time backup amid “evolving global uncertainties”, says Astranis. Specifically, the company cites natural disasters and submarine cable disruptions, but the context is also increasing geo-political uncertainty.

MicroGEO

Its MicroGEO satellites are “small, powerful satellites for high orbits” says Astranis. This new addition will complement Chunghwa Telecom’s existing multi-orbit satellite architecture. It includes the in-orbit ST-2 GEO satellite, OneWeb’s LEO constellation, and SES’s MEO system

Astranis

“Our founding vision nearly a decade ago was to provide dedicated satellite capacity where it is most needed, ensuring secure and independent communications,” said Astranis CEO John Gedmark. “We are honored to partner with Chunghwa Telecom to enhance the resilience of Taiwan’s critical communications infrastructure.”

For its part the Taiwanese tech company highlighted the resilience of its “Sky, Land, Sea, and Air” network, advancing its Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) strategy.

“Chunghwa Telecom, as Taiwan’s leading, most valuable, and most trusted ICT service provider, has actively expanded its satellite initiatives in recent years,” said its chairman, Dr. Alex C.C Chien.

“Astranis’s MicroGEO solution introduces vital flexibility and resilience to our satellite strategy. This collaboration enables us to build a dedicated, secure digital infrastructure for Taiwan—one that can serve as a critical real-time backup against natural disasters, submarine cable disruptions, and evolving global uncertainties.”

Astranis launched its first MicroGEO satellite in 2023, dubbed Arcturus. Since then, four more are in orbit.

The MicroGEO uses a proprietary SDR (software-defined radio). It allows the reallocation of bandwidth and power on the fly, across 7 GHz of bandwidth.

Images: Astranis

See also: Taiwan cracks down on China poaching its engineers