4,988 BTS 4G Garapan BAKTI Kominfo Will Be Inaugurated By Jokowi At The End Of 2023

Illustration. Digital infrastructure in the form of BTS carried out by BAKTI Kominfo in Selong Belanak Village, Lombok, Wednesday 5 October 2022. (ANTARA-Livia Kristianti)

JAKARTA - Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi revealed that 4,988 4G Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) were carried out by the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) of the Ministry of Communication and Information ready to be inaugurated by President Joko Widodo (Jokwoi).

"The project has been completed and is waiting for the inauguration by President Joko Widodo. So, later Mr. President Joko Widodo can inaugurate the operation of BTS 4G BAKTI Kominfo," Budi said in a statement received, Tuesday, December 19, confiscated by Antara.

The infrastructure built in disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost (3T) areas is scheduled to be inaugurated and start operating at the end of 2023.

The inauguration has been planned by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics together with the Head of State to be carried out at 26 BTS 4G construction sites and a video conference will be held to test the reliability of the network.

The schedule was unusually congested. Yesterday, he just returned from a state visit in Japan. "We are currently compiling a schedule (Inauguration of BTS), but it's still this year," said Budi.

In detail, Budi said that 4,988 BTS came from a total of 5,618 BTS that should have been built by the BAKTI of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics.

While the rest are sought to be resolved by taking into account the geographical conditions and challenges that exist in the field.

"There are remaining 630 locations that can potentially be over-carryed next year due to security considerations, geographical factors that are difficult to reach and so on," he said.

The Minister of Communication and Information stated that he would continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs and local governments to find solutions to the completion of development in these locations.

According to him, deliberation is the key needed to choose comprehensive and appropriate solutions in accordance with geographical conditions and challenges in these areas.

The 4G BTS development financing comes from the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) and Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) which is managed by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics.

BAKTI Kementerian Kominfo juga melanjutkan kontrak kerja dengan mitra sebelumnya untuk operasional BTS 4G di daerah 3T.

"The construction of the BTS 4G BAKTI tower is a real effort by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics to fulfill the commitment to gradually provide 4G cellular services for people in the 3T area, because this project is one of the national strategic agendas," he concluded.