Jokowi Inaugurates 4G BTS Installed in 4,990 Sites, Bumi SATRIA-1 Station

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi, inaugurated the operation of the 4G Base Transceiver Station (BTS) projects installed in 4,990 locations and the station of the satellite project for the Republic of Indonesia Satellite or Bumi SATRIA-1. The event was held in Talaud Islands Regency, North Sulawesi.

“With the hope for the blessing and grace of Almighty God, I inaugurated the signal operation of the BAKTI 4G BTS and the operation and integration of the Indonesian satellite this afternoon in Talaud Regency, North Sulawesi. Thank you,” he said in a press conference broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) on Thursday, December 28, 2023.

He mentioned that Indonesia is a large country with 17,000 islands with diverse geographical conditions, so it is not easy to prepare road infrastructure, ports, airports, as well as health and education infrastructure, unlike other countries with a single landmass.

He also stressed the need for connectivity to strengthen national unity and integrity. "We have been building various connectivity infrastructures and constructing sky highways so that all levels of society have equal access to the digital world, including the construction of BTS," he said.

The Kominfo Ministry, through the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI), built the 4G BTS in two phases. The first in 2020 with 1,682 locations and all of them had migrated to 4G network services in the same year, and the second in 2021 with 5,618 sites. The project was focused on the frontier, outermost, and remote regions (3T), with 76 percent of the coverage in eastern Indonesia, including Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua.

As of December 26, 2023, all 4G BTS for 1,682 locations are already on air, while for Phase 2, BTS are also on air in 4,990 locations out of the total target. However, the remaining 628 sites remained offline due to security issues in Papua and difficulties in mobilizing materials to the sites.

MOH. KHORY ALFARIZI

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