At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Cho Jung-tai received a National Communications Commission (NCC) briefing on the mobile network slowdown drills conducted in August as part of Taiwan's 2026 Urban Resilience (Air Defense) Exercises. The premier said that this year's exercises will, for the first time, introduce large-scale mobile network slowdown drills, drawing on the experiences of democratic countries including Japan, South Korea and several Nordic nations. The goal is to simulate extreme scenarios, test the government's response capabilities in a constrained communications environment, and promote public awareness of the various backup options for maintaining communications, thereby enhancing nationwide resilience and civil preparedness.
Premier Cho highlighted that the drills will involve network slowdowns rather than network shutdowns, allowing continued access to voice calls, text messaging, text-based communications and other basic services. In addition, essential public services, including medical institutions' communications services and public transportation, will continue to operate without interruption. The exercises aim to strengthen Taiwan's communications resilience and whole-of-society resilience while minimizing disruption to the public and maximizing the effectiveness of civil preparedness measures.
Premier Cho instructed the NCC to continue cooperating with telecommunications providers, local governments, and relevant ministries and agencies, so as to ensure technical coordination and the swift restoration of all systems following the conclusion of the exercises. He also directed the NCC to raise public awareness through various channels, particularly by promptly clarifying misinformation related to the exercises, and to carefully plan the use of the government's Cell Broadcast Service (CBS) public warning system to deliver notifications and guidance before, during and after the exercises.