Taiwan conducts mobile network slowdown drill in town resilience exercise

Taiwan’s government staged a town‑resilience exercise in August, adding a 30‑minute mobile network speed‑reduction drill in 14 counties across the central and northern regions. During the drill, 4G and 5G data speeds were throttled, while voice calls, SMS, emergency services and essential infrastructure such as ATMs, traffic signals and medical communications remained operational. The exercise aimed to test the ability of government agencies to keep critical functions running under limited communications and to familiarize the public with alternative channels such as landline phones, Wi‑Fi, offline maps and the “Fire‑Safety One‑Touch” app. Southern counties were exempted, prompting public criticism and complaints of unequal treatment. Officials stressed that the drill mirrors similar resilience practices in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the EU, and is intended to improve overall communications preparedness for natural disasters or large‑scale cyber attacks.