House to push for 3G technology rights for Telkom/Telkomsel
House to push for 3G technology rights for Telkom/Telkomsel
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Throwing its weight behind the country's leading cellular
operator Telkomsel, which hopes to establish third-generation
(3G) technology here, the House of Representatives will summon
government officials in charge of licensing the technology.
After a hearing with state telecommunications firm PT Telkom
and its subsidiary Telkomsel on Tuesday, the House decided to
summon the directorate general of post and telecommunications and
the Telecommunications Regulatory Body (BRTI) to get a clear
explanation as to why there was such a dearth of development of
3G services in the country.
"Commission V supports the development of 3G by Telkom," said
vice chairman of the House's Commission V on transportation and
telecommunications. Erman Suparno, when concluding the hearing.
"We urge the government to allocate a frequency for Telkom,
subsequent to the license already issued," he said.
The 3G technology, a far more advanced level of the current 2G
technology, offers fast data transfer and substantially enhanced
quality. It enables real-time video streaming, video conferencing
through cellular phones and many other services.
Cellular phone manufacturers are already racing to release new
products compatible with 3G.
Telkomsel was granted a license to run a 3G-based radio
network in October last year, but it is yet to get a frequency
bandwidth slot as a means to transmit data.
"Up to now, the frequency spectrum allocation (for us) is
unclear," Telkom president Kristiono said during the hearing with
the House.
"Meanwhile other operators got an extremely wide spectrum so
easily (before)," he added.
The government has already granted 3G licenses and allocated
frequency spectrums to PT Cyber Access Communications (CAC) in
October 2003 and PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler/Lippo Telecom.
However, none of them have begun operating 3G technology.
As the bandwidth slots have all been distributed, Telkomsel
will use the guard band -- a gap between one allocated bandwidth
and the next -- to try out the technology.
"The frequency is full. The government has to find a solution
for Telkom and Indosat," said Telkom's fixed-line services
director Suryatin Setiawan.
BRTI has said that it might recommend that the government
revoke the license of CAC if the company was unable to install
necessary infrastructure immediately.
CAC, an affiliate of Thailand's leading cellular operator
Telecom Asia Orange, is required to build 939 base transceiver
stations (BTS) by 2005, however indications are that they may
fall short of that target.