SATRIA-2 Satellite Worth IDR 13.4 Trillion Is Being Prepared By BAKTI Kominfo

President Director of BAKTI Kominfo Fadhilah Mathar (photo: Rana/VOI)

JAKARTA Fadhilah Mathar, President Director of the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency of the Ministry of Communication and Information (BAKTI Kominfo), shared the latest news regarding the construction of the SATRIA-2 satellite. Currently, follow-up satellites from SATRIA-1 are in the process of improvement to optimize technical needs. Fadhilah revealed that the use of cables as a whole is very difficult to do so that satellite procurement is very necessary. "We are an archipelagic country with more than 17,000 islands. The entire region is unlikely to be covered by cable technology so that we still need the combined capacity of territorial cables and satellites," Fadhilah told reporters on Friday, January 8. In terms of drafting costs, the BAKTI officials said that they would use foreign loans. The agreement for this loan has many stages so that satellite procurement can be completed in 2025." The process for the agreement is not direct," he said. "There is a stage of management, then beforegrement we will re-request information to the providers. After the agreement is signed, we will do the provision."

The proposed funds for this roadband satellite service reached US$864 million or around Rp. 13.4 trillion. This satellite will have a capacity of 300Gbps to reach all of Indonesia, including in some remote areas. For now, there has been no definite decision on the placement of the satellite. However, Fadhilah said that they have a choice of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO). "In the past, the plan was made for SATRIA-2, the choice was GEO, but we have conveyed to BAPPENAS that later this will be more flexible (orbit selection)," said Fadhilah.