Indonesian Government encourages Operator to share their Networks for faster MBB deployment

Meeting of Kominfo on Network Sharing on the 14th of January 2016 with Minister Rudiantra (second from right).

The Indonesian Communications and Information Ministry has announced that boosting mobile broadband network infrastructure sharing is a key objective that it will pursue in order to make the country’s telecommunications industry more commercially sustainable. Using the platform of a seminar on network sharing, the Communications and Information Minister, M. Rudiantra stated “I will never stop pushing for measures that will ultimately make our broadband networks more efficient and beneficial to the public. I can help through regulatory measures that can help reduce capital expenditure for telecommunications operators.” [1]

The Minister has since expanded on this statement by releasing details of three new governance measures that are designed to incentivise operators to deploy in rural areas. These include carrying out a review of both the RAN Sharing Policy and the Network Ownership model as well as introducing policies designed to maximise investment incentives. Operators have been invited to submit suggestions and feed into the process in order to ensure the greatest impact is achieved.

Indonesia is the most populous country in South East Asia with 260 million inhabitants yet mobile broadband coverage lags significantly behind neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia or A third of the Indonesian population is spread across roughly 17 000 islands making it difficult for the mobile industry to expand coverage in a commercially sustainable manner.

Currently, mobile broadband network coverage is widely available across urban areas in Java and Sumatra with rural areas experiencing scattered coverage.

The Minister’s announcement is a positive signal for the industry. It fosters momentum around mobile broadband network coverage expansion by encouraging close cooperation between policy makers and the industry, a crucial prerequisite to overcome the coverage gap in a commercially sustainable manner.

Notes
[1] GSMA Infrastructure Economics Estimate, YE2015
[2] Estimate based on “What is the impact of mobile telephony on economic growth?”, Deloitte-GSMA-Cisco report, 2012

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