Taiwan to Simulate Mobile Network Slowdown in 2026 Town Resilience Exercise

The National Communications Commission (NCC) will incorporate a mobile‑network‑slowdown scenario into Taiwan’s 2026 “Town Resilience (Air‑Defense) Exercise”. The drill will take place in 14 counties across the central and northern regions for a 30‑minute period on August 10 and August 13, 2026. During the exercise only voice calls and SMS will remain functional; data services such as LINE, Facebook, Google Maps, ride‑hailing and mobile‑payment apps are expected to be severely degraded or unavailable.

The purpose is to test how telecom operators manage bandwidth shortages after a major disaster and to familiarize the public with communication limits in emergency conditions. The NCC advises residents to download offline maps, store important contacts locally, and rely on regular SMS or voice calls for urgent communication. Non‑compliance with evacuation or traffic‑control orders during the drill can result in fines of up to NT$150,000.