Taiwan deliberately slowed mobile internet to a crawl for half an hour on Thursday, Aug. 13, as part of its annual Han Kuang drills, according to an Associated Press report carried by NPR. Telecom operators cut mobile web traffic to 256 Kbps in the capital, Taipei, and six other cities and localities, making it hard to exchange anything beyond text messages, the report says. President Lai Ching-te apologized for the inconvenience: “We ask for your understanding and support, as this is a necessary drill,” he said.
Officials had announced the test in advance. Taiwan’s National Communications Commission said mobile data would slow for half an hour in 14 cities and counties in northern and central Taiwan, The Record reports, with 4G and 5G speeds cut to about 1% of normal capacity, according to local media citing planning documents. Authorities said the exercise did not amount to an internet shutdown and that fixed broadband, Wi-Fi, landlines and military networks would keep running, the outlet says.
The Guardian reports that the disruption ran on two separate days that week across 14 cities and counties, home to roughly 70% of the island’s 23 million people, and describes it as the first time Taiwan simulated a coordinated attack on its internet. Video calls, streaming and mobile payments became difficult or impossible to use, the paper says. It profiles Wang Chen-wen, who leads a local civil defence group and sent messages over a long-range, low-power radio platform during the drill.
NPR’s report adds that 18 Chinese warplanes and 11 navy ships operated around Taiwan between Wednesday and Thursday morning, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.