Telkomsel Reroutes Traffic as Submarine Cable Disrupted

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Internet networks provided by Telkomsel and Indihome, part of Telkom Group, were disrupted since Sunday afternoon, September 19, at 17:33 local time.

Telkom's Vice President of Corporate Communication, Pujo Pramono, explained the disruption was caused by damaged submarine cables of the Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan (JaSuKa) or the Batam-Pontianak section.

Pujo said his side immediately rerouted the traffic as an alternative network route to Batam following the disruption, including expanding the capacity of several links in Indonesia such as from Papua, Kalimantan, and Java, as well as optimizing the international gateway in Manado.

“Our focus is only one, returning the service to normal quickly to be used by customers as usual,” he said in a written statement on Monday, September 20.

The disruption was found out to be generated from about 1.5 kilometers off the Batam coast at a depth of 20 meters below sea level. It affected users in East Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Natuna Island, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua. The access to telephone and SMS services, however, remained normal.

According to Pujo, Telkom Group’s services, both fixed and mobile broadband, had gradually recovered. “Services began to return to normal from midnight until this morning,” he added.

Telkomsel's Vice President of Corporate Communications Denny Abidin also said his side together with Telkom Group immediately looked for the cause and prioritized accelerating the recovery of internet service access in all affected areas. “We apologize to customers [affected by the network disruption] in a number of regions,” said Denny on Monday.

Read: Telkomsel 5G Network; What Users Should Know

MOH KHORY ALFARIZI