TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Digital Minister Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said Wednesday (Sept. 21) the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought home the message of the necessity to ensure resilient communications networks.

Fake news sprung up after the war broke out in February, and the world could have been misled if there had not been constant connectivity to show what was happening on the battlefield. The use of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite systems is also key to an undisrupted chain of command, she said in an interview with Mirror Media.

The National Communications Commission has borrowed a page from the conflict and sought to provide continued mobile phone services through a coordinated effort among telecom companies in the event of war. This is inspired by Ukraine’s “national roaming” initiative that allows users to switch to the network of other cellular carriers if their service provider is rendered inoperable, Tang stressed.

A NT$550 million (US$17.4 million) budget has been earmarked to implement a two-year program that boosts communications and cyber resilience during emergencies. Efforts have been made to bolster landline and cellular networks as well as microwave transmission, and the public should not worry unless “all of Taiwan’s submarine cable systems are cut off,” she added.

The digital ministry has served as an intermediator that helps relay concerns by telecom service providers about the possibility of a power cut amid an attack, per CNA.