Bakti Promises To Present 4G Internet In 3T Areas

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JAKARTA - The Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI), Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) will partner with cellular operators to provide 4G signals in BTS towers that they build for the frontier, outermost, disadvantaged (3T) areas.

"To ensure the supply of 4G signals in 7,904 (towers) BTS, BAKTI is conducting operational cooperation with licensed cellular operators in Indonesia," said BAKTI President Director Anang Latif during a virtual press conference, Friday, May 28.

The government is accelerating the development of telecommunications infrastructure, which was originally targeted for completion in 2032 to 2022. Kominfo data shows that from a total of 12,458 villages and sub-districts that have not received a 4G signal, as many as 9,113 villages and sub-districts are 3T areas, BAKTI working areas.

In the period 2019 to 2020, BAKTI has built 1,209 BTS towers, including increasing the ability to capture 4G signals.

Another 7,904 will be worked on in the period 2021-2022, sourced from the pure rupiah State Expenditure Budget and Non-Tax State Revenue from the non-public service agency (BLU) sector of Kominfo.

A total of 5,204 of the locations built in 2021-2022 are in the provinces of Papua and West Papua, or about 65 percent of the construction sites. BAKTI is committed to establishing an accountable selection mechanism in order to find reliable and competent partners to deliver 4G signals in the 3T area.

According to Anang, this selection is no less important than the development of telecommunications infrastructure because it will have an impact on the quality of cellular services. In this cooperation, the responsibility for providing land for tower construction, BTS tower construction and maintenance lies with BAKTI.

The duty of the cellular operator will be to provide 4G services, network operations and maintenance. The government seeks to accelerate digital transformation by building and expanding telecommunications infrastructure in Indonesia.

While the 3T area is worked on by BAKTI, there are 3,435 non 3T areas, which are the operational areas of cellular operators.