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Eastern Indonesia's Palapa Ring Optical Cable Officially Launched

Papua | May 11, 2018 The first submarine cable deployment for the Palapa Ring eastern package project has officially begun. It is hoped that this fiber optic backbone project will connect cities and regencies in eastern Indonesia. The first infrastructure deployment for internet access was carried out in Bintuni Bay, West Papua. This deployment was carried out by the winning bidder for this project, the PT Palapa Timur Telematika consortium. Benyamin Sembiring, General Manager of Project Implementation for Palapa Timur Telematika, stated that with the Palapa Ring, regions in eastern Indonesia will not be left behind when it comes to internet access services. "Papua and West Papua will be connected with broadband because all cities and regencies will be served," Benyamin said during the submarine cable deployment in Bintuni Bay, West Papua, Friday (May 11, 2018). Benyamin stated that this submarine cable deployment was the first, as PT Palapa Timur Telematika had previously worked on the deployment of optical cables on land routes. Overall, the Palapa Ring eastern package project has reached 50% completion, covering approximately 2,500 kilometers of land routes. "Meanwhile, the remaining area, which covers approximately 4,500 kilometers of sea, "We're carrying out the first deployment today," he said. At least three vessels will lay the submarine fiber optic cable for internet access in the eastern Palapa Ring package. These vessels are the Nostag 10, Pacific Guardian, and Teliri. The construction of the eastern Palapa Ring fiber optic network will reach 35 cities/regencies in East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, West Papua, and even the interior of Papua. Fiber cables with a bandwidth capacity of 80 Gbps will be laid in these areas. The project value reaches IDR 5.1 trillion. The Palapa Ring project is one of the national strategic projects regulated by Presidential Regulation No. 3 of 2016 concerning the Acceleration of National Strategic Project Implementation. The project is known to be a government effort to build fiber optic network infrastructure, which serves as the backbone for national telecommunications services connecting all districts and cities in Indonesia. The Palapa Ring project is divided into three packages: the west package, the central package, and the east package. All project packages are targeted to be operational and accessible to the public by 2019. "The west package is already operational, the central package is underway, and so is the east package we are currently working on," Benyamin concluded. (jsn/asj)

News and image sources:Detik