Indonesia Broadband Plan to Develop High Speed Internet for the Next Five Years

Indonesia Broadband Plan (IBP), which has been echoed since a couple of months ago, is officially began. This re-construction of national broadband’s infrastructure has been confirmed by the Presidential Decree No. 96 2014, which talks about the IBP 2014-2019. The plan is expected to help every single Indonesian citizen enjoying the very best out of internet.

The establishment of high speed internet network is definitely something non-negotiable in Indonesia. This is particularly because a high speed internet access may help people sharing any information easily as well as improve people’s competitiveness.

The National Development Planning Body (Bappenas) states on its official page that the IBP 2014-2019, which is included into the National Long-Term Development Plan 2005-2025, aims to guide the development of comprehensive and integrated broadband network in Indonesia for the next five years.

If it goes according to the plan, the program would be extremely beneficial for Indonesia’s internet network ecosystem. It has two main agenda which are expected to be realized in 2019. The first one is the enhancement of internet’s speed and coverage, and the second one is the decrease of services’ fees.

As being reported earlier, the IBP targets to build the broadband infrastructure up to 30% of total population and up to 71% of households in urban areas, with the maximum speed of 20 Mbps. For rural areas, the plan aims to reach up to 6% of population and 49% of households, with the maximum speed of 10 Mbps.

Furthermore, the government also looks to push the infrastructure of mobile broadband through the program. It is expected that every single citizen in urban areas and 52% of total population in rural areas get the access to mobile broadband with the maximum speed of 1 Mbps.

As for the price, the program also ‘attempts’ to lower the price of internet connection until it reaches 5% of people’s average GDP at maximum by 2019. This is to accommodate people’s complaints about the expensiveness of services’ price available today, compared to the quality of the services they get.

There are six main benefits offered by this IBP 2014-2019. In short, those six focus on strengthening the development of proper infrastructure, ranging from the establishment of optical fiber in pretty much all cities and districts, to the enhancement of human resources and practitioners of national IT industry. Moreover, the establishment of data for the government is also there.

However, to reach such noble target, it requires quite large amount of money. According to Armida Alisjahbana, the Minister of Development Planning / National Development Planning Body, stated that the total sum required is up to Rp 2,78 trillion. “The National Income and Expenses Budget covers 10 percent of the total required sum,” Alisjahbana told Okezone (15/10).

That being said, it is normal to expect the program to take Indonesia’s internet network ecosystem to the next level. Besides the government, that holds the IBP program, a number of entities also administer pretty much similar programs, such as Telkom International which gets involved in SEA-US global consortium’s plan of establishing underwater cable network.

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