RI asks WB to fund telecoms project<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government is asking the World Bank for more
\nfinancial assistance to support the development of the country's
\ntelecommunications network, a senior official said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
\nTelecommunications, Jonathan Parapak, said it wanted the money to
\nfinance part of the Nusantara-21 telecommunications project.<\/p>\n
"We talked about the aid proposal with the World Bank in April
\nlast year," he said.<\/p>\n
Parapak said the World Bank had not yet given a formal
\nresponse but was optimistic the World Bank's response would be
\npositive.<\/p>\n
"The World Bank was very supportive with our efforts to
\ndevelop information technology here," Parapak said after giving a
\npresentation at a seminar on the information technology
\nrevolution.<\/p>\n
He said a steering committee was formed last year to establish
\nthe Nusantara 21 telecommunications development concept.<\/p>\n
The Nusantara 21 concept focuses on the development of
\ninfrastructure and application aspects of information technology.<\/p>\n
Parapak said the World Bank had encouraged Indonesia to begin
\nmaking software to support the huge telecommunications project.<\/p>\n
"The bank has agreed to help but we are still discussing the
\npossibilities now," he said.<\/p>\n
PT Telkom might cooperate with India and Pakistan to market
\nthe software as these nations are the current software makers and
\nwere more technologically advanced, he said.<\/p>\n
"PT Telkom may also cooperate with private companies to
\nproduce software," he said.<\/p>\n
Parapak said Indonesia would also set up partnerships with the
\nIridium global satellite telecommunications project as part of
\nthe Nusantara-21 program.<\/p>\n
Iridium, led by U.S. firm Motorola, would operate 66
\nsatellites to be launched next year with the capacity to serve
\n1.5 million mobile telephones and 500,000 international pagers.<\/p>\n
Parapak said at least US$2 billion a year was invested in
\nIndonesia's telecommunications sector. (02)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-asks-wb-to-fund-telecoms-project-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}