The Ministry Of Communication And Information Says It Needs 4 More Satellites For Internet Needs In Indonesia 600 GB-1 TB Per Secon

Illustration of telecommunications satellites. (doc NASA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Information's Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) admits that it requires four satellites to achieve internet needs in Indonesia, which are in the range of 600 Giga bits (GB) per secon (Gbps) to 1 Tera bit (TB) per secon (Tbps).

"Overall to achieve (minimum needs) 600 Giga bits per secon (Gbps) approximately need a total of three to four satellites," said Head of the BAKTI Satelit Division Kominfo Sri Sanggrama Aradea in Jakarta, Monday, July 31, as reported by Antara.

In the roadmap for digital infrastructure development by BAKTI Kominfo, the satellite was chosen as a solution for equitable internet access to reach areas untouched by the fiber optic network and the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) network.

By utilizing Indonesia's orbit, the Government is currently waiting for the Republic of Indonesia-1 (SATRIA-1) Satellite which has a capacity of 150 Gbps to operate at the end of 2023 or early 2024.

In addition, BAKTI Kominfo is also in preparation to launch a Hot Backup Satellite (HBS) with an internet capacity of 80 Gbps.

Furthermore, in the roadmap for infrastructure development of BAKTI Kominfo in 2024 there will be the construction of a twin geostationary satellite or twin satellite named SATRIA-2 consisting of SATRIA-2A and SATRIA-2B with a total capacity of 300 Gbps.

In total, the total capacity is 530 Gbps and still less than the minimum internet requirement in Indonesia which reaches 600 Gbps.

Therefore, Aradea said it needed one or two other SATRIA to achieve the needs of the 600 Gbps-1 Tbps.

"Maybe we need up to SATRIA-4, something like that," said Aradea.

The hope is that with the presence of satellites up to SATRIA-4, the Indonesian people will no longer have trouble getting internet access and digital inequality can be overcome.

The entire satellite capacity will complement the internet network which is also provided via fiber-link networks, namely fiber optic networks and microwave links by utilizing electromagnetic waves emitted through BTS.