Mastel Asks The Government And Operators To Give Mobile Subsidies If They Want To Turn Off 2G Networks

General Chairperson of Mastel Sarwoto Atmosutarno (photo: Citra/voi.id)

JAKARTA - Indonesia has entered its fifth network, aka 5G, but it turns out that until now there are still people who have adopted the 2G network.

Chairman of the Indonesian Telematics Society (Mastel), Sarwoto Atmosutarno said the 2G network is likely to be turned off like 3G fate, but it depends on how it is used, and the government's steps.

"If it depends on you, yes, your cellphone is still using 2G, so if your cellphone doesn't have 2G, why do we provide it, unfortunately the frequency is used to be unemployed," said Sarwoto when met at the Leaders Forum: Indonesian Telecommunications Industry Direction, in South Jakarta, Thursday, August 24.

"Now behind, I want to run to 4G, use the ASO frequency, or midband or low band 700 Mhz, how much is your 4G?," he continued.

According to Sarwoto, to kill 2G, it will be fully considered by the operator, because there are still those who use the network until now, especially since the use of 4G has not been completely evenly distributed.

"If traced, 4G cellphones are not yet up to 20 percent, while if we hope to make (Base Transceiver Station) 4G, that's what passes there, the users are bigger, so this is not a match from the operator," said Sarwoto.

Sarwoto said it was not impossible that 2G would be removed, but the process was still long, especially for residents in suburban areas.

"People on the outskirts by the time. So operators can track later, which HP community is still using a phone feature and switch to a smartphone," explained Sarwoto while hoping that the 2G network would be deleted, "As soon as possible, 2 years is over," he added.

Meanwhile, in terms of self-operators to turn off 2G, according to Sarwoto, they must provide assistance such as cell phones to residents who still use the network, in order to switch to a more sophisticated network.

"Yes, now for example, we are pro-small people, (such as) analogs are still used by villagers, to be able to digitally move you have to buy a Set Top Box (STB), now STB must be provided by the government or operators, it's the same later," said Sarwoto.

"So if, for example, we turn off the phone feature, whether there is a subsidy from the government or the operator (to provide smartphones). Or like Flexi, after a while no one wants to use the CDMA," he continued.