Palapa Ring Project to be Operational by 2018-end: Minister

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Communication and Informatics Minister Rudiantara has said the Palapa Ring project will become operational at the end of 2018, and will reach many remote areas in the west, central, and east Indonesian regions.

"Following the operation of Palapa Ring, all district and municipal capitals in 2019 can be connected with broadband," Rudiantara remarked in a written statement made available to ANTARA on Thursday.

The minister explained that the Palapa Ring project is part of the governments efforts to provide services through a fiber optic network that will become the backbone of the national telecommunications system and connect all districts/cities in Indonesia.

"The project aims to accelerate the growth and distribution of the telecommunications network," the minister said.

The Palapa Ring project is one of Indonesias priority infrastructure projects for the 2016-2019 period, with an undersea fiber-optic cable network stretching across 13,000 kilometers and an onshore network of nearly 22,000 kilometers expected to provide fast broadband internet to the people living in urban and rural areas.

The project, according to the minister, shows that the government is serious about establishing cooperation with investors for infrastructure development in the country.

The project, which is divided into three packages of west, central and east is the first cooperation in the telecommunication sector under the availability payment method scheme initiated by the Ministry of Finance.

The minister said the project is supported by the National Planning and Developing Board, the Ministry of Finance, and the Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund (IIGF) as a state-owned enterprise playing a pivotal role in attracting private capital for infrastructure development to accelerate Indonesias economic growth.

ANTARA