Knot a problem: Thai capital tackles street cables

Yahoo – AFP, Joe Freeman, January 11, 2018

Bangkok's Wireless Road is festooned with electrical and telecom cables, a black
 web that hangs menacingly overhead like dystopian Christmas decorations.
(AFP Photo/LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA)

Bangkok's Wireless Road may soon live up to its name.

Like many streets in the Thai capital, the thoroughfare is festooned with electrical and telecom cables, a black web that hangs menacingly overhead like dystopian Christmas decorations.

But Bangkok authorities are now untangling the cables and moving them underground as part of an urban renewal pushed by the Thai junta that seized power in 2014.

The aim is to make Bangkok not only safer, but easier on the eyes and less prone to blackouts.

Frayed cables -– often live -- dangle at head-height onto Bangkok's streets, making safe navigation of the already treacherous pavements even harder. Other wires are left to bunch up near pylons, creeping hazardously across the narrow walkways of the city centre.

Exposure to the elements has also meant the cables are easily damaged, which can cause problems for the city's electrical system.

Wireless Road, which got its name from hosting one of Thailand's first radio transmitting stations, is among dozens of streets targeted in the early phase of the de-cluttering campaign.

Large stretches of Sukhumvit Road, a central artery that cuts through high-end neighbourhoods and tourist hotspots, have already been cleared since November.

"This is a commercial road. We see hotels and foreigners living around here. When they see the beautiful road, they will spread the word," Prasonk Kumpradit, an official with Bangkok's Metropolitan Electricity Authority, told AFP.

The project has been planned for years, but many suspect it received an unexpected jolt after Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited Bangkok in 2016 and took a disapproving photo of one street's wiry web.

The billionaire later deleted the Facebook post, which blamed the cluster of wires on people illegally tapping into the grid.

Wireless Road, which got its name from hosting one of Thailand's first radio

transmitting stations, is among dozens of Bangkok streets targeted for de-cluttering 

(AFP Photo/LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA)

'No more disorderly stuff'

Netizens quibbled with his diagnosis of the cable bunches, which include both telecom connections and power supply wires, but less than a week later the government announced that cleanup was moving forward.

So far 1,184 utility poles have been removed from three of the city's biggest roads.

Over the next five years authorities plan to strip cables from 39 more streets totalling 127 kilometres, reinstalling the new connections under the road.

While there are no hard figures, Bangkok authorities say that is just a fraction of the city's cables but is still a mjor improvement on the status quo.

"The main advantage we get is the security of the electrical system," said Prasonk.

"When the cables are underground, the problem with disturbances that can cause blackouts will be gone."

Thailand's military rulers have launched a flurry of campaigns to impose some order on their chaotic capital in recent years, including clearing away many of Bangkok's famous street-food stalls.

But while that decision caused dismay in some quarters, few will shed a tear when the cable clusters disappear.

"Taking the wires away is really great. It makes the city clean, clear and pleasant to look at," Sukanya Phuangdech, a 45-year-old Bangkokian, told AFP from a newly-cleared Sukhumvit Road.

"No more disorderly stuff. I feel like people are happier."

Martin Fletcher, a 30-year-old teacher from England, agreed.

"Bangkok's very famous for having all the electrical wires -- and it's a bit like spaghetti, and they've been cleared... it's a lot nicer now," he said.

Indonesian President Orders Telkom Bosses to Get Off Their Backsides and Do Their Jobs

Jakarta Globe, September 17, 2010

Jakarta. An angry President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered his officials to roast the management of state-owned Telekomunikasi Selular Indonesia after he experienced technical difficulties with teleconference service during a public relations exercise.

Yudhoyono, at a Idul Fitri police post in Cikampek, West Java, was discussing traffic flows with Central Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang with the media in tow when Edward’s image froze on the screen.

“It was okay before, why is it like that now?” the president asked. “Are there any Telkomsel officials here?”

Yudhoyono then asked a Telkomsel official whether the company’s president director ever checked on such network failures.

When the unfortunate official replied “No,” Yudhoyono ordered Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam to send a message to the president directors of Telkomsel, Indonesia’s leading cellular provider, and its parent company, Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), to ensure that all systems within their control functioned properly.

“Please tell them, ‘don’t just sit behind their desks. Make sure that the systems function. Now,’” the president said.

Antara/JG

Government Asked to be Serious about Sun Storms

Tempo Interactive, Monday, 22 March, 2010 | 19:27 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Padang:The West Sumatra provincial government has been asked to be serious about the sun storm which is predicted to hit the area between 2012 and 2015. The West Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Geologists Association coordinator, Ade Edward, said the preparation includes mitigation to reduce the disaster’s impacts. “The sun storm may trigger natural disasters, such as volcanic activities, tectonic earthquakes, and extreme weather conditions, including in West Sumatra,” he said yesterday.

When disaster strikes and power and telephone lines are down, Ade assumes that disaster management agencies will not be able to use standard mechanisms. “As such, the disaster mitigation system must be adjusted to anticipate the negative effects of the sun storm,” he concluded.

FEBRIANTI

Telecommunication towers closed to foreign investors

Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Thu, 03/18/2010 9:28 AM

The government will keep the telecommunications towers business closed to foreign investors in the upcoming revision to the “negative investment list”, Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said.

Hatta said the new negative investment list would adopt a joint agreement signed in 2009 by the Home Ministry, the Communications and Information Technology Ministry.

The agreement stipulates that all investments in towers or base transfer stations (BTS) for cellular telecommunications systems are strictly closed to foreigners in a bid to support local players.

The adoption of the agreement will end a prolonged debate on the need to open up this type of business, assuming that local players could not meet the demand for rapid cellular telecoms penetration in the country.

Investment Coordinating Board head Gita Wirjawan said opening up the tower business would result in more capital flowing into the telecommunications sector, which would benefit the people.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring, however, argued local businesses should have a share in the telecommunications sector, which is already heavy with foreign players.

“I just want our share in the information and communication technologies [ICT] business of Rp 300 trillion [US$33 billion],” he said.

He added that BTS construction does not require a large amount of finance, which make him prefer to protect the BTS business, retaining it for local businesses. Tifatul said the BTS business was only 8 percent of the whole ICT business.

Hatta said although BTS business would be designated for local businesses only, they could look for funds anywhere including from foreign fund managers.

“You have to differentiate between ownership and the ability to look for funds. Funds can be generated from domestic [sources] or from fund managers or anywhere,” he said.

“Those that provide funds do not have to be investors. Don’t let our capacity for [BTS] construction be obstructed because we maintain 100 percent national ownership. BTS is an important infrastructure for Indonesia’s development,” he added.

Hatta said the revision of the 2007 presidential regulation on the negative investment list would be finished after one more meeting between affected officials. The negative investment list regulates the percentage of foreign ownership in certain business sectors, including telecommunications, health, education and agriculture.

Hatta dismissed claims that foreign investors may be limited in purchasing shares offered through rights issues, as part of the revision of the list.

He said purchasing shares via the stock market was different from ownership in certain businesses.

The revision of the negative investment list is aimed to ensure a more competitive investment climate, seeing the need to attract more investment into Indonesia’s consumer-driven economy.

Indonesia needs total investment of nearly Rp 2,000 trillion in the 2010-2014 period to accelerate infrastructure projects, the National Development Planning Agency says.

Handle with care

The Jakarta Post, Mon, 12/21/2009 4:19 PM | Business

A technician repairs a solar-powered generator belonging to PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure in Riau. The firm uses the generator as an alternative device to supply electricity to telecommunication operators in the province. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

Pay TV Subscribers Rise By More Than 25 Percent

Tempo Interactive, Wednesday, 02 December, 2009 | 22:16 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: An association of subscription-based multimedia service reported increasing subscribers during 2009 by around 27 percent and predicted the percentage will continue to rise to about 30 percent in 2010.

Association of National Multimedia Service said pay TV subscribers have been estimated at 900,000 this year by the end of the year, growing by almost 200,000 subscribers from a year earlier.

Secretary General of the association Arya Mahendra Sinulingga said his association predicted a rise in number of subscribers that would take the number of customers to 1.2 – 1.3 million next year.

There were already several pay TV services in Indonesia which include Indovision, Telkomvision, Firstmedia, IM2, Aora, Fastindo, Megavision, Jogja Medianet, and Okevision, but Arya said “Right now pay TV subscribers only make up of 8 or 9 percent (of the total TV viewers).”

Most subcribers according to Arya will return to pay TV for more channels and variety of shows they could not find in regular TV, but the limited number of local movies Arya said could not respond to that demand. HBO channel for example could air 800 titles a year while Indonesia only produces 75 titles a year.

KARTIKA CHANDRA

Indosat extends sea cable system to Singapore

Antara News, Tuesday, November 17, 2009 21:17 WIB

PT Indosat. (ANTARA/Ardika)Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Telecommunication operator PT Indosat Tbk will spread the sea cable communication system or SKKL to connect Jakarta, Pontianak, Batam and Singapore which will be used for the internet-based protocol (IP) or non IP services.

PT Indosat president director Harry Sasongko after inaugurating two new telecommunication backbones here Tuesday, said that the marine cable system is 1,300 km long.

"With this additional marine cable systems, Indosat will have additional bandwidth capacity at the early stage of 80 Gbps which will be used for both IP-based services (Internet Protocol) and the non-IP," he said.

The SKKL installed by Indosat in cooperation with NEC has a four landing points on the islands of Tanjung Pakis (Karawang, West Java), Sungai Kakap (Pontianak, West Kalimantan), Tanjung Bemban (Batam), and Changi (Singapore).

"The fiber-optic network will be able to anticipate the possibility of the very large demand until the Gbps (Giga bits per second)," he said.

In addition, the network is expected to serve as a redundant or back up for the existing international network.

"All cable systems FO or fiber optic Indosat has used ring system or redundant, so if there is a break in the cable, it will be immediately backed up by another network," he said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian ambassador to Singapore, Ali Wardana said, at least 158 thousand Indonesian people live in Singapore so that the existence of the SKKL has a potential to increase relations between the two countries.

China`s Huwaei to set up training centers in Indonesia

Antara News, Friday, November 13, 2009 15:10 WIB

Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei plans to establish two major training centers and a Research & Development (R&D) center here, a senior Huawei official said on Thursday.

Huawei tech Investment President Director Ma Yue said that the planned training centers are expected to graduate 1,500 credible Indonesian telecommunication technicians each year.

According to Ma, Huawei has supplied telecommunication equipment for 9 mobile telecommunications operators operating in Indonesia to develop their GSM (Global System for Mobile) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) telecommunication networks.

Minister vows to provide phone lines to remote villages

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 10/24/2009 7:32 PM

New Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring pledged on Saturday to provide phone connections to 25,000 remote villages in his first 100 days in office.

“Our target is reaching the 25,000 villages by phone in the coming three months,” Tifatul said on the sidelines of a blogger community get-together in Jakarta.

He said the government was working hard to meet the Universal Service Obligation (USO) standard, which includes phone connections in villages.

“In accordance with the USO, we have to build telephone lines in 32,874 villages. The President has asked me to set up phone connection in 25,000 outlying villages within the next three months,” Tifatul said.

State telecommunication company PT Telkom has managed to fulfill 46 percent of requests for fixed phone lines.

NEC to Build Submarine Cable Linking Indonesia and Hong Kong

PCWorld

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service, Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:50 AM PDT

NEC has won a contract to build a new submarine fiber-optic cable linking Indonesia to Hong Kong.

The Submarine Cable Asia Network (SCAN) will connect the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and the second-largest city of Surabaya to Hong Kong and from there on to other cable networks.

The 4,300-kilometer cable system will have an initial transmission capacity of 40 Gbps with upgrades possible to 1.92 Tbps, NEC said. It will also be built with three branching units along its length to facilitate possible future expansion to other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

The cable is being constructed by Fangbian Iskan Corporindo and Telemedia Pacific. NEC's work is expected to begin during the first half of this year and be completed by 2011.

Govt to announce cuts in Internet rates

Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - Informatics and Communications Minister Muhammad Nuh said his ministry was still discussing the government's plan to cut Internet rates expected to be announced next month. 

The minister made the remarks after signing the plaque of a Muhammadiyah Entrepreneur Islamic Boarding school building here on Saturday. 

"I have made public sometime in the past that the government would issue a policy on the Internet tariff cuts. But it is now still under discussion. We hope that the cuts would be announced in April," the minister said. 

He said it could be noticed the Internet rates had been going down from year to year but the government wanted a bigger cut so that the people could have wider access to the Internet. 

"I could not yet assure the percentage of the the cuts. But for sure, we are now studying it by analyzing the Internet cost structure," he said. 

He said that the government had the responsibility to lower Internet tariffs but policies on the services were in the hands of the Internet service providers (ISP) and network providers. 

"We have to sit together to discuss what could be lowered so the Internet rates would be within the financial reach of the people," Nuh said.

1st iPhone 3G sale on March 20

The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Sat, 03/14/2009 1:09 PM  

PT Telkomsel, the country’s largest cellular operator, is slated to sell the country’s first iPhone 3G mobile handset on March 20 at the Pacific Place shopping center in Jakarta. 

In its statement late on Thursday, the company said the handset would be available also at GraPARI outlets with a price starting at Rp 2.62 million (US$188)

“iPhone 3G will redefine our consumers’ mobile phone experience,” said Telkomsel president director Sarwoto Atmosutarno.

iPhone 3G combines three products in one -- a mobile phone, widescreen iPod and internet device. It also includes fast 3G networking, GPS mapping and support for enterprise features including Microsoft Exchange.

iPhone 3G is available in over 70 countries worldwide.

In its statement, Telkomsel also said it would invest $1.5 billion this year to expand its 3G network.

Telkomsel was the first operator in Indonesia to launch 3G services in September 2006, and had the biggest 3G community with more than 9.2 million subscribers in  more than 140 cities.

Telkomsel has 69 million subscribers or more than 50 percent of the market share.

Telkomsel is 65 percent owned by state-run PT Telkom, the country’s largest telecommunications company. The remaining 35 percent is owned by Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte Ltd.

Facilities embedded in iPhone 3G have put the gadget in competition with Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and Nokia’s smart phones, which are designed for business users.

The arrival of the iPhone is likely to heat up competition among mobile operators tapping cash-rich business clients, who account for a smaller proportion of the market’s customer base.

Indonesia’s cellular operators primarily target the market of middle to lower-income users, which accounts for an average of more than 70 percent of the customer base for cellular providers.

Related Articles:

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Apple iPhone 3G to Sell for $99 at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club

Apple pushes iPhone 3G at the enterprise

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iPhone 3G Analysis: Apple's Big Tease

City to seize BTS antennae from illegally built towers

Triwik Kurniasari, The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Fri, 03/06/2009 10:29 AM

The city will take down and seize antennae from illegally erected base transceiver station (BTS) towers as it seeks to cut back on tower numbers.

Hari Sasongko, head of the property control and building monitoring (P2B) agency, said Thursday this was far cheaper more reasonable than dismantling the towers.

“It costs about Rp 5 million to Rp 7.5 million to dismantle a tower. That’s very expensive. So we chose to disable the towers by seizing the antennae,” he said.

“We have allocated funds of Rp 1 billion to for this operation.”

Since 2007, the P2B has dismantled 85 illegally built towers.

Officials and critics say Jakarta has become a city of towers, with many towers built each year without the necessary permits, the agency reported.

Of 3,124 towers in the capital, 1,028 do not have building permits, according to P2B data.

Hari admitted lack of monitoring was the main reason for the mushrooming of BTS towers.

“It’s hard for us to control tower developments, due to human resource constraints,” he said.

“We used to have only one team to arrange building permits and control the towers. Now we have two different teams handling the two responsibilities. There will be building inspectors to check the towers. We will no longer tolerate tower owners who breach regulations.”

He added his office was in discussions with the city’s spatial planning agency to determine which areas were appropriate for setting up BTS towers.

Spatial planning agency head Wiriyatmoko said he hoped cell phone operators would share towers to cut back on tower numbers.

“Three operators or more can share a tower. Ideally, this city needs no more than 700 towers,” he said.

Gunawan Tjahjono, a professor of architecture from the University of Indonesia, previously said shared towers could help ease the “visual” and space pollution problems.

Merza Fachys, chairman of the Indonesian Association of Cellular Telecommunications, said one reason why BTS towers were mushrooming was because they needed high positions.

But he pointed out that a BTS did not necessarily require a tower.

“We can put BTS on the roofs of tall buildings,” he said.

In addition to visual pollution, the sprouting of towers and BTS has also sparked protests from local residents.

In early February, residents of Lagoa in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, raised concerns that a BTS tower on Jl. Mengkudu posed health risks through radiation.

Wiriyatmoko said the administration was still developing a fiber optic network aimed at reducing the number of BTS.

He added the network would be more cost effective for BTS owners because the equipment could be attached to existing buildings, street lamps or pedestrian bridges, and would not require tall towers.

The network is also expected to be able to improve Internet connections for high schools.

Indonesia to go digital by 2015

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/03/2009 7:27 PM  

Indonesia is expected to go all digital by 2015 for all electronic appliances, including television, an official at the Communications and Information Ministry (Depkominfo) said Tuesday. 

"By 2015-2016 Indonesia is expected to have gone 'totally digital'," Director General of Communication Services and Information Dissemination at the Information and Communications Ministry, Freddy H. Tulung said, as quoted by Antara news. 

He added that by 2015-2016 all analog appliances would be phased out due to a cease in production. 

"We even hope things would take place sooner because every year we evaluate to smooth the process," Tulung said. 

According to Tulung, there are three stages to appliance digitalization in Indonesia. 

Throughout 2008 the ministry has allocated time to publicize digital appliances. 

Within the 2012-2015 period, the ministry will expand digital coverage in all areas so as to include medium-sized and small cities. 

"Increasingly we have also increased the issuance allotment for digital permits while phasing out the issuance of permits for analog appliances," Tulung said. (amr)

Telkom Sets Aside Rp1 Trillion for Investment

Friday, 13 February, 2009 | 16:30 WIB 

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (Telkom) is setting aside Rp1 trillion in investments to develop cable telephone networks. These networks will be used to support the Internet-based television service (IPTV) which will be launched this year. The launch was initially scheduled to take place last year. 

Telkom CEO Rinaldi Firmansyah said the Rp1 trillion allocation did not include the service content development, which would cost US$ 10-15 million. This fund was part of the company’s 2009 budget amounting to US$ 2,5 billion. 

According to Rinaldi, IPTV uses a cable network as its conductor. The service will be launched in six big cities, including Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya. The company’s target is to have IPTV absorb 20 percent of the current cable telephone customers, reaching 8,7 million people. 

ant | arif

Pay TV operators feeling good for 2009 despite adverse global economic conditions

The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Fri, 01/30/2009 11:44 AM 

 

Pay TV operators are confident they can increase their subscribers by between 65 to 70 percent this year to push total users to over 1 million, regardless of the global financial crisis, an industry player say.

 

The optimism comes from the fact that only about 7 percent of  the potential market has been penetrated, according to pay TV subscriber operator Indovision corporate secretary Arya Mahendra Sinulingga.

“The potential market for the industry is around 10 million users, while only 700,000 of them have subscribed to pay TV. It shows that there is still a lot of market share to fight for,” Arya  said.

With the prospect of increasing the number of subscribers by 65 percent, there would be at least 1.1 million subscribers that could  be registered by the end of 2009.

 

With an average fees of Rp 140,000 (US$14) per subscribers per month, the total revenue projected is around Rp 1.87 trillion.

However, the projected number of official subscribers is still smaller than those subscribing to “illegal operators.”

According to Arya, illegal operators usually subscribe to one of the pay TV industry official operator services and then re-distribute the broadcast content for cheaper fees using illegal connection wires and analog signals.

“Based on our investigations, there are around one million subscribers to illegal operators, and they are clearly visible with their cable connections on their roof-tops,”

“There are government regulations for these violations, but in practice, the authorities have yet to make enough efforts to punish the illegal operators,” he added.

Sinulinga said that another challenge the industry would face during the coming year would be the unclear anti-monopoly broadcasting regulations.

The industry saw similar  growth in subscribers from 2007 to 2008, growing from 450,000 subscribers to 700,000 in one year.

This growth was the largest in the Asian pay TV industry scene, according to the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA).

Six major companies — Indovision, First Media, IM2, Aura, Telkom Vision and Oke Vision — are participating in the country’s pay TV industry, with Indovision having the largest market share of around 480,000 subscribers (68 percent).  (hdt)

Fujitsu and NSW win order for Indonesian optic-fiber network

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Fujitsu Limited announced that it and partner Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH (NSW) of Germany have won a turnkey contract from PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (PT Telkom) worth more than US$100 million to install a submarine optic-fiber cable system for the Indonesian islands Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Java, Bali and Lombok. 

The "JaKa2LaDeMa" ring will provide the first direct, high-bandwidth optic-fiber submarine cable system for these Indonesian islands, and is scheduled to be completed in the January-March quarter of 2010, Fujitsu said in press release by Fujitsu Indonesia today. 

JaKa2LaDeMa will deliver the capacity to provide upgradeable transmission facilities that support Internet, e-commerce, video, data and voice services. 

Fujitsu will provide state-of-the-art terminal equipment, repeaters, branching units system integration and associated services for this project. The repeaters will be integrated into the repeatered cables provided by NSW, which will also provide such services as surveying, marine installation and civil works. 

"Fujitsu is extremely pleased to make a significant contribution to the construction of network infrastructure in Indonesia, which is one of the fastest growing markets in the world," commented Gensei Katano, Group vice president of Photonic Systems Group, Submarine Networks at Fujitsu. 

"This win is attributable to our robust network portfolio as well as our strong commitment to Indonesia. We will continue to work closely with NSW for the successful delivery of state-of-the-art submarine cable system to PT Telkom." 

"We are very proud that PT Telkom has awarded us this project," said Rudolf Stahl, managing director at NSW. 

Fujitsu's optical submarine repeater is the most technologically advanced and reliable repeater in the industry. In 40 years of submarine cable experience, Fujitsu has installed more than 2,500 repeaters throughout the world while maintaining a zero-malfunction rate. 

NSW, a worldwide leading manufacturer in the submarine telecom and power cables industry, will be using its MINISUB repeatered and unrepeatered cable, which with its compact and robust design, will provide excellent performance, cable handling, laying and recovery characteristics. 

In accordance with the customer requirements, the cable will be delivered in the versions lightweight, lightweight-protected, single-armored and double-armored.

Government to Bridge Digital Divide In Rural Areas

Ismira Lutfia, The Jakarta Globe, January 5, 2009 

In its 2009 budget, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has plans to develop a rural telecommunications network to reduce the digital divide between urban areas and outlying regions. 

Muhammad Nuh, minister of communication and information technology, said last week that the Universal Service Obligation program would help provide better telecommunications infrastructure and widen access to information and communications technology. 

“The program has been delayed twice, and it will ensure a maximum use of the budget if we can start it as soon as possible,” Nuh said, adding that his office would announce the winner for the USO project tender in early 2009. 

He said during a year-end press conference that the program would boost information technology penetration, and that it would not only provide telecommunication connections in rural areas where such service was now unavailable, but would also serve as the first step toward securing Internet access. 

“If the program goes smoothly, this will help to increase the public’s electronic literacy,” Nuh said, adding that the technology could also be used to access information in other aspects of life such as education, health and business, in addition to making electronic transactions possible. 

Nuh also said that his ministry had spent 74.45 percent of its Rp 1.3 trillion ($120 million) budget for 2008. 

“We have managed to maximize the use of our budget by being efficient in various expenses,” Nuh told reporters, adding that reduced electricity and Internet connection costs contributed to decreased expenditures. 

The minister said that merging similar or supporting activities between different working units within the ministry had also helped to streamline the budget, and that administrative procedures to withdraw financing money were now more efficient. 

Gatot S. Dewa Broto, a ministry spokesman, said that delays in withdrawing money had sometimes left projects unfinished and the budget unspent. 

“Spending the budget reflects how we conduct our activities, but it seems impossible that 100 percent of the budget can be spent,” Nuh said. 

He said that the research and development unit was the biggest spender of seven working units in the ministry, using up 85.6 percent of its budget. The post and telecommunications unit spent 81.6 percent, the inspectorate general 77.8 percent, the telematics application unit 71.7 percent, the secretariat general 70.9 percent, the public information body 69 percent and the communications and information dissemination unit 61 percent. 

Gatot said the ministry did not handle the budget by itself and therefore the remaining 25.6 percent was still with the State Treasurer. 

Nuh said that one of the expenditures in the budget was for producing regulations in cooperation with legislators from the House of Representatives. The main achievement in this partnership, he said, were the passage of two laws, on information and electronic transactions, or ITE, and on freedom of information, or KIP. 

The ITE law was passed in March while the KIP law was passed in April. Both laws have been met with strong opposition from activists and the media, who say some clauses in the laws could jeopardize the freedom of expression and information. 

The KIP law is considered a breakthrough in the country’s governance reform process and made Indonesia the seventh country in Asia to enact such a law. 

It obliges all bodies funded by taxpayer money to regularly disclose and update information regarding their institutions, and to provide easy access to information for those who request it.

Indonesia to implement Wimax broadband in 2009

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 12/28/2008 6:59 PM  

Indonesia will implement Wimax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) broadband technology next year to improve access to the Internet across the country, an official said Sunday. 

Engkos Koswara, an expert adviser to the state minister for research and technology, told Antara news agency the government was still testing the 2.3 GHz frequency for the Wimax technology. 

"We hope that by next year, Wimax technology will be implemented," he said in Medan, North Sumatra, adding the government would encourage the use of domestic products to support the technology. 

Indonesia ranks very low in the region in the use of broadband for Internet access. 

Engkos was in Medan to attend the promotion of IGOS (Indonesia Goes Open Source) and the launching of IGOS for North Sumatra (IGOS Sumut).

IGOS, launched in 2004, was launched to promote the use of open source software throughout the country. 

Decree on fiber optics to be issued next year

Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 12/19/2008 11:02 AM

Traffic congestion caused by continuous excavations will be diminished as the city administration plans to create a master blueprint of the underground optic network.

The blueprint will be part of a gubernatorial decree regulating fiber optic development.

Governor Fauzi Bowo on Thursday said the decree would be ready by the first quarter of next year.

"We want to provide better services ... There will be no more overlapping road excavation projects," he said at City Hall.

The city administration has stopped issuing permits for all road excavation projects while the regulation is being drafted.

"We do not have a verification system for fiber optic development. For the time being, we only have permits for road excavations and another permit for short-time excavation. After the decree issuance, we will use the short-time permits for fiber optic development," Fauzi said.

He said the master plan would contain calculations on future demand for traffic lights, electronic traffic control, tax transmission data and surveillance cameras that would use fiber optics.

"We will let private companies operate the fiber optic network. There will be a city-owned company involved in the fiber optic network operation, but we will treat it like a private company," he said.

Jakarta currently has a 2,221-kilometer-long fiber optic network.

Fauzi said development was previously disorganized because operators usually set up networks at the request of consumers, usually in upscale business areas.

"We even found operators applying for cable permits for what later turned out to be fiber optic projects.

"We realized that fiber optics will be needed not only by businesses, but by households as well."

Yusuf Effendi Pohan, head of public street lights and utilities, said the administration needed to anticipate fiber optic development after seeing 50 percent growth last year.

Ardi Sudarto, sales marketing manager for corporate solutions at fiber optic-based Internet service provider CBN, said his company saw the regulation as an opportunity to expand fiber optic networks to new areas.

"Perhaps the regulation is aimed at organizing the network and excavation activities. We support the decree as long as it allows us to do business and serve customers," he said.

Yusuf said the fiber optic development would help reduce the number of base transceiver stations (BTS) in the city as it could transfer data quicker than regular cable networks.

Currently, there are 3,400 BTS towers in Jakarta. The city administration plans to limit them to 800 towers.

"With fiber optics, cellular phones will have better signals," he said.

Yusuf said the administration would make fiber optics in line with ducting projects, which aim to integrate utility networks such as electrical wiring, water pipes and sewer pipes.

The 200-meter ducting under Menteng Park, Central Jakarta, is one of the ducting projects completed by the city administration.