The Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) has said that Phase 1 of the accelerated development of 4G Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the outermost, underdeveloped, and frontier (3T) areas has reached 86-percent completion.
Currently, the 4G BTS have been developed and operated in 1,900 sites out of the 4,200 targeted sites, BAKTI president director Anang Latif informed in a statement received here on Friday.
The development is targeted to be finished in 2022.
“The state budget allocated for the construction of the 4,200 4G BTS is Rp11 trillion (US$762 million),” the president director said.
One of the biggest expenditures from the budget have been logistics costs since many development sites do not have adequate physical infrastructure, thus the locations have to be reached by helicopter, he noted.
“Meanwhile, the construction of Phase 2 of the 4G BTS at 3,704 locations will be completed in stages according to the states’ fiscal availability,” he disclosed.
The development of digital infrastructure in remote villages is not easy since there are a number of local challenges, including difficult geographical terrains, logistical problems, inadequate transportation, and limited human resources, he said.
In addition, currently, there is a global shortage of microchips, which has affected the availability of a number of telecommunications equipment used in the construction of BTS, he added.
Furthermore, security disturbances have also become a challenge in a number of regions, such as the attack on telecommunication workers in Puncak district, Papua province, on March 2, 2022.
Still, the acceleration of equitable development in the 3T areas continues. Latif noted that the total BTS built in Papua and West Papua provinces account for around 65 percent of the total BTS constructed by BAKTI throughout Indonesia.
“All of the challenges and problems have not diminished the government’s determination to continue providing excellent 4G services and Internet access for people in the 3T areas,” he added.
Source: Antara News