TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A second undersea cable between the outlying Matsu islands and Taiwan’s main island has been repaired, Chunghwa Telecom said Friday.

The No. 2 fiberoptic cable running between the island of Dongyin and Tamsui in New Taipei sustained outages on three different occasions, per CNA. Damage on Sept. 22 and Jan. 22, and a total breakdown on Feb. 16 did not affect communications with Matsu because there was an automatic transfer to backup systems based on microwave links.

Repairs on the No. 2 cable were completed Friday morning, following the restoration of service by the No. 3 cable between Nangan and Guanyin in Taoyuan on March 2. Taiwan is still adding another cable, dubbed Taiwan-Matsu No. 4, between Bali in New Taipei and the islands. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

Taiwan has suspected involvement by ships flagged in third countries but operated by Chinese companies in several cases of damage to submarine telecom cables. The Coast Guard has investigated several incidents, boarding the ships and detaining suspects.