After Ukraine, Taiwan seeks its own LEOsats

Finally, we have some numbers on the impact of the Russian invasion on Ukraine’s telecom networks.

According to the ITU’s long-awaited report on Ukraine, it will cost around US$1.8 billion to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure – more than four times its total capex of $391 million in 2020.

The study, which the UN agency quietly dropped the last working day before Christmas, calculates the war has cost Ukraine $1.7 billion in infrastructure damage and lost income.

In locations where “active hostilities” had taken place, 100% of the infrastructure was destroyed, while operators also reported loss of income from the outflow of people fleeing the fighting. Vodafone, one of the three national mobile operators, lost 400,000 customers in the first few months.

The ITU research was completed in August, however, which means the data is already at least five months out of date. ITU officials have not explained the delay.

Still, it is likely that the biggest lesson from the Ukraine war so far is not the unwarranted destruction of network equipment but, thanks to Starlink, the emergence of the world’s first ubiquitously connected military force.

In recent US conflicts, senior military brass have become accustomed to real-time comms and video from the battlefield.

Taiwan looks to satellite!

Now the power of LEOsat has extended this to the frontline, with obvious advantages in flexibility and information flow. Whenever Ukraine soldiers observe a Russian tank, for example, they can use an app to enter the coordinates and directly inform their commanders.

Military powers such as Russia and the US have long had the ability to knock out satellites, but not at the scale of Starlink, which has deployed 3,200 satellites with another 10,000 planned. The satellite dishes are equally ubiquitous: Ukraine has just ordered another 10,000.

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