4G Services Will Be Available in 2,700 Villages by 2022: Kominfo

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government is committed to providing 4G network services in 2,700 villages by the end of 2022. The infrastructure project of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) tower would begin over the next two years.

"We are ensuring that all Indonesians can enjoy this digital transformation," said Anang Achmad Latif as the Managing Director of the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) of the Communication and Information Technology Ministry (Kominfo), in a press conference in Jakarta, Friday, January 29, 2021.

According to Anang, 12,548 out of 83,218 villages and sub-districts in Indonesia did not have access to 4G services.

Therefore, following the construction project of the backbone of internet connection in the country was completed, the government was determined to build the BTS tower through a joint venture with telecommunication operators.

The infrastructure project for a total of 3,435 villages would be carried out under the operators, while BAKTI through an open tender would work on the project for 9,113 villages.

BAKTI has signed an IDR7.5 trillion deal with the winning bidder for the package volume 1 and 2 covering 2,700 villages; 132 in Sumatra, 456 in Nusa Tenggara, and 776 in Kalimantan, and package volume 2 covering 1,336 villages; 536 in Sulawesi and 800 in Maluku.

Packages 1 and 2 will be carried out by three winning consortiums, namely PT FiberHome Technologies Indonesia, PT Infrastruktur Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkominfra), and PT Multi Trans Data.

Anang added that the infrastructure projects of 4G network services for Papua would be in package volume 3 and 5, in which the tender bid was still running due to geographic challenges.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO