Kominfo Inaugurates BTS in West Papua, Signs the Start of 4G On Air service

The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) inaugurated a base transceiver station (BTS) tower that is already on or on air in West Papua.

“The utilization of telecommunications infrastructure like this must be maximized to be more efficient and productive. The trick is to: First, work together with the provincial government and district/city government so that infrastructure development is in accordance with urban planning. Second, they must be kept together. Third, it must be used in a positive way, from upstream to downstream," said Minister of Communications and Informatics Johnny G. Plate, in a press release, Wednesday.

The BTS which was inaugurated today are located in Isiren Village, Rumberpon District, Teluk Wondama Regency; Siresi Village, Soug Jaya District, Teluk Wondama Regency; and Kasi Indah Village, Kasih District, Tambrauw Regency.

The three BTS use a transmission connection via satellite or VSAT.

Today's inauguration marks the start of the 4G BTS service built by Kominfo through the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI). This year, BAKTI is building BTS towers in 4,200 locations which will gradually be on air.

"The speed in bringing 4G BTS on air is important considering that we are really increasing the acceleration of digital transformation. Moreover, the Papuan people in this national digital transformation acceleration program receive special focus due to regional considerations and the level of digitization," said BAKTI President Director Anang Latif, in the same statement.

The government plans to build 4G BTS in 5,204 points throughout Papua within the next two years. Meanwhile, throughout Indonesia, 4G BTS will be built in 7,904 locations.

"The 5,204 4G BTS locations complement the hundreds of BTS that have been built previously," said Anang.

Indonesia has 83,218 villages and sub-districts, there are 12,548 of these that have not been reached by 4G signals.

Among the villages that have not been reached by 4G access, as many as 9,113 villages/kelurahan are the leading, outermost and underdeveloped (3T) areas, which are BAKTI's task areas. These locations only have 2G or 3G BTS, which need to be upgraded in order to capture 4G signals.

BAKTI data for the first quarter of 2021 shows that there are still 7,904 villages/kelurahan that have not yet had access to 4G.

Others, as many as 3,435 villages that are non-3T are the working areas of cellular operators.

SOURCE: https://indonesiatimur.id/2021/10/07/kominfo-resmikan-bts-di-papua-barat-tanda-dimulainya-jasa-4g-on-air/