Expert Witnesses Affirm That The 4G BTS Procurement Tender Is Not Enough As Evidence

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JAKARTA - The Policy of the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) has set a number of requirements so that limiting certain companies that can participate in the tender for the procurement of 4G base transceiver stations (BTS) towers does not necessarily prove that there is a conspiracy.

One of the requirements in question is the obligation of tender participants to have 4G-LTE technology owners.

Business competition expert from the University of Indonesia, Ditha Wiradiputra, said technical restrictions and certain requirements in a tender must be seen from the reasons and goals to be achieved.

"This restriction must be seen by cost and benefits. In this case, it is necessary to see if BAKTI wants to ensure that participants participating in the tender are participants who have qualifications," said Ditha in a statement released by VOI, Sunday, October 15.

He said that by emphasizing that participants must have technology, BAKTI must hope for a cost efficiency because it buys directly from producers or owners.

"In addition, BAKTI also wants to ensure the sustainability of operations because it buys directly from technology owners, especially when there will be damage or needs repairs," he said.

Ditha assessed that BAKTI's move by dividing the 4G BTS procurement project and its supporting infrastructure into five work packages was also not a tender conspiracy. According to him, the distribution of the package is only an effort to better mitigate project risk.

"It's like we put eggs in a lot of baskets. We could put all the eggs in one basket, but if the basket falls, all the eggs break," explained Ditha.

He explained that based on the applicable doctrine, the government is excluded from the law of business competition. As a public service agency (BLU) under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, BAKTI is a government institution that is exempt from the doctrine of business competition.

"The law on business competition is indeed made to regulate the behavior of business actors, not government behavior. Therefore, for every policy taken by the government, KPPU can only provide advice or recommendations," he said.

It is known, in the tender for the procurement of 4G 2021 BTS infrastructure as many as 4,200 units, BAKTI Kominfo divided it into five work packages. BAKTI Kominfo also requires tender participants to have 4G-LTE technology.

The winners of the tender in detail are the FiberHome Consortium/Telkom Infra/MTD (packet 1 and 2), the Cross-Arta-Huawei-SEI Consortium (packet 3), and the IBS Consortium ZTE (packet 4 and 5).

Telecommunications expert Agus Simorangkir said that currently there are not many 4G technology-owning companies operating in Indonesia. Agus also assessed that the limitation of tender requirements carried out by BAKTI was a natural thing.

Previously reported, Aldres Napitupulu, the attorney for former Director of BAKTI Kominfo Anang Achmad Latif emphasized that the BAKTI base transceiver station (BTS) construction project did not stall. The project continues despite delays due to a number of technical and non-technical constraints.