Equitable Access to Digital Infrastructure, Government Targets One Village One BTS in Papua

Equitable access to digital infrastructure in Papua is the Government's concern to accelerate Indonesia's digital transformation. The Ministry of Communication and Information is targeting the construction of one Base Trasceiver Station (BTS) in every village in Papua.

The President Director of the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) of the Ministry of Communications and Informatics, Anang Latif, emphasized that the Government is paying special attention to building digital infrastructure or information and communication technology to facilitate public access.

"In line with the President's directives on August 3, 2020, one of them is related to solving infrastructure problems by accelerating digital transformation," he said at the inauguration of the 4G BAKTI BTS in Sawyatami Village, Keerom Regency, Papua Province which took place in a hybrid manner from South Jakarta, Tuesday (07). /12/2021).

According to President Director Anang, the construction of BTS by BAKTI of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics is expected to make it easier for people in Papua province to get access to telecommunications.

"By focusing on the development of ICT infrastructure in the settler population area, it is hoped that one village in Papua Province can have one BTS," he said.

The provision of BTS in every village is an effort to carry out President Joko Widodo's direction in order to accelerate digital transformation to support government and business services.

“Hopefully, they (Papuans) don't have to bother crossing to another village just to get a signal. The President wants us, all sectors in government and business or anywhere else, to immediately switch to digital transformation because it has been proven that this sector has an impact which gives the term multiplayer effect for our development," explained the Director of BAKTI, Ministry of Communications and Informatics.

President Director Anang explained that currently his party is trying to complete the construction of BTS so that it can spread the coverage of 4G signal coverage throughout Indonesia. "The goal is that all people have equal access to telecommunications and information, one of which is in the 3T (Front, Outermost, and Disadvantaged) areas, including in Sawyatami Village, Keerom Regency, Papua," he said.

Challenge

The Director of BAKTI, Ministry of Communication and Informatics, stated that the government has built 3,409 BTS points. In 2022, the construction of 5,204 BTS will continue, specifically for Papua Province.

According to President Director Anang, the presence of 4G BTS in Sawyatami Village is the result of the work of the Prosperous Business Infrastructure consortium and ZTE Indonesia.

"Especially for the work carried out by the IBS and ZTE consortium, it is package 4 and package 5 with a total of 1,811 BTS points," he explained.

The Director of BAKTI, Ministry of Communication and Informatics, explained that the Government faced a number of challenges when building 4G BTS in Papua Province. President Director Anang stated that the location of scattered settlements and the condition of the landscape in Papua became a challenge in itself.
 
"The construction of BTS targets a population where there are many families living. But in Papua, where each family lives is fragmented. In fact, there is one village, maybe only 10 families, so at least they are scattered," he said.

According to the Director of BAKTI at the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, this is a challenge for the Government in completing all coverage in Papua Province. "Perhaps it could be that in the coverage area there are no residents because the settler families are so spread out," he said.

President Director Anang also revealed that the technical process of BTS construction is also often constrained by the geographical conditions of Papua.

"In building BTS, the difficult terrain to traverse due to geographical conditions. So it takes a minimum of 40 days. The longest point is to build the physical, where there is to build the tower," he explained.

Not to mention related to the transportation of materials for development that requires transportation facilities. "This tower requires concrete, cement hardening like we build a house. A quite complicated problem is how to bring physical and electronic materials to the location, because we admit that Papua Province is the most difficult location of all the packages we are working on," said the Director of BAKTI at the Ministry Kominfo.

According to President Director Anang, the condition of the landscape consisting of mountains can only be reached by air transportation access. Therefore, BAKTI Kominfo together with related partners continue to seek ways to realize the construction of BTS on time.

“There, you have to carry, say one set, up to 10 to 15 tons, where there are many aircraft that only carry around 1 or 2 tons. There are some that are heavier, of course, you have to use a more powerful plane/helicopter, which may have to be imported from outside Papua. So this is how our partners (here are IBS and ZTE) are constantly racking their brains, how they are trying to find the time to stay on time,” he said.

In addition to the Director of BAKTI of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, the event was also attended by the Director of Resource Management of the Directorate General of SDPPI, Denny Setiawan; President Director of IBS, Makmur Jauri; President Director of ZTE Indonesia, Richard Liang; and the Supervisory Board of BAKTI, namely Dodi Setiadi and Syaiful Islam.

Meanwhile, the Regent of Kerom Pieter Gusbaker, as well as the Forkopimda ranks and all local government officials were present virtually.

SOURCE: https://kominfo.go.id/content/detail/38579/siaran-pers-no-431hmkominfo122021-about-equal distribution-access-infrastructure-digital-government-targetkan-satu-desa-satu-bts-di- papua/0/air_press