News
Signing of the East Palapa Ring at the Presidential Palace
Jakarta | September 29, 2016
PT. Palapa Timur Telematika (PTT), the winner of the East Palapa Ring project, signed the contract for the East Palapa Ring project at the Presidential Palace on Friday (September 29, 2016). The signing ceremony was held between Minister of Communication and Informatics Rudiantara, PTT President Director Leon Kakisina, and PTT Director Jimmy Kadir, and was witnessed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.
The East Palapa Ring project is a consortium of Moratelindo, IBS, and Smart Telecom. The construction of this fiber-optic network (infrastructure) will reach 35 cities in East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, West Papua, and the interior of Papua, with a total fiber-optic cable length of approximately 8,450 kilometers and a bandwidth capacity of 80 Gbps. The East Palapa Ring fiber-optic network will be constructed 80 percent by sea and 20 percent by land. Microwave radio will also be used to connect cities with minimal infrastructure. The total budget for this project is 5 trillion rupiah, and it is targeted for completion by the end of September 2018.
Eastern Indonesia is rich in natural resources, but the lack of telecommunications infrastructure in this region leaves it lagging behind other regions, such as the West and Central. This program is expected to enable eastern Indonesia to catch up with the development of telecommunications infrastructure, eliminate slow and expensive internet, and ensure adequate data connectivity. This is also expected to accelerate development and achieve economic equality throughout Indonesia.
