Smartfren and Bakrie Telecom Officially Collaborate on Building Common Network

Two only survivors of CDMA cleansing, Bakrie Telecom (BTEL) and Smartfren, are officially involved in a partnership to establish common network. Both agreed to transform their CDMA technology to FDD-LTE-based 4G services. By this collaboration, Esia customers will enjoy Smartfren’s network through a rental agreement.

Jastiro Abi, BTEL’s CEO, stated in his press release, “This partnership is a token of our fast response towards government’s ‘broadband society’ and ‘broadband economy’ instruction. This strategic collaboration also opens the possibilities of our CDMA technology’s further development. From this moment on, both BTEL and Smartfren users may not only get high quality services, but also enjoy LTE- FDD-based 4G services.”

Technically, both telcos will combine their networks. Then, BTEL will rent Smartfren’s network to cover Esia customers, so that they could get much better services.

Previously, other CDMA operators, Telkom Flexi and Indosat StarOne, have already halted their services and decided to migrate their customers to their GSM "siblings".

“This collaboration opens even bigger business opportunities for BTEL and Smartfren, as both have been allowed to use neutral 800 MHz frequency. Thus, stakeholders will have more opportunities to expand their business through this strategic partnership,” Abi added.

In line with Abi, Smartfren’s CEO Rodolfo Pantoja also claimed that the partnership will help the CDMA industry restoration program reaching its success.

Furthermore, both BTEL and Smartfren are on their course to discuss about the possibilities of developing their network into LTE-FDD-based 4G services in order to serve better services to their customers.

Both Abi and Pantoja confirmed, “We both get the chance to contribute positively to the telecommunication development in Indonesia, so that Indonesians may have a taste of high quality telecommunication services, just like what they’ll get in other developed countries.”

[Illustration: Shutterstock]