Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Indonesia's giant satellite project called 'SATRIA-1' has started operating to deliver internet to 3T (underdeveloped, frontier, outermost) areas. President Joko Widodo inaugurated it at the same time as the operation of the 4G BTS in Bowombaru Village, Talaud, North Sulawesi, on Thursday (28/12) this week.
SATRIA-1 is focused on public facilities in remote areas of Indonesia. These include the education, health, defense and so on sectors.
The satellite has a capacity of 150Gbps which is distributed to 37,000 points in Indonesia. This means that one point will produce an internet speed of 3-5Mbps.
This speed is considered to be insufficient to support internet needs in Indonesia. Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi said that the results of the study stated that the need in the country was 1Tbps.
For this reason, the government through the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) Kominfo prepared SATRIA-2. Director of BAKTI Kominfo Fadhilah Mathar said there were already several investors interested in working on this project.
“SATRIA-2's mechanism is through foreign loans. Now we are still waiting for approval from Bappenas,” he said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the operation of BTS 4G and SATRIA-1 in Talaud.
Budi Arie said the same thing, who was met separately at Soetta Airport, Jakarta. He said that many foreign investors were interested. However, currently he can only mention his country of origin.
“France, England, America, China. We'll see which one is the cheapest and best, that's what we use,” he said.
The focus of SATRIA-2 will be to increase internet capacity which is now provided by SATRIA-1. According to Budi Arie, satellite technology is very suitable for streaming internet in remote areas of Indonesia where cable infrastructure is difficult to build.
“Just like SATRIA-1, SATRIA-2 is to strengthen connectivity access. SATRIA technology is suitable for 3T. It's impossible for us to pull cables in several areas,” he explained.
For information, BAKTI Kominfo has completed the 4G BTS project at 4,990 points until December 2023. This project was hampered due to a corruption case that ensnared former Minister of Communication and Information Johnny G Plate and former Managing Director of BAKTI Kominfo Anang Achmad Latif.
There are still 628 4G BTS that will be completed until the first semester of 2024. These BTS are located in force majeure areas in the interior of Papua.
Fadhilah said development in the interior of Papua was challenging due to geographical challenges and a small number of community groups. Construction there also costs more than in other areas.
“But that is not an obstacle. We are always committed that when a village meets the USO criteria, we still come there while considering the safety of our team,” he explained.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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