Internet providers vow to suspend services
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia could be electronically isolated from the rest of the world if most of the country's internet service providers (ISPs) go ahead with a threatened three-day blackout from Wednesday to protest government inaction in regulating the industry.
Heru Nugroho, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers (APJII) said on Tuesday that most of the association's 60 members, excluding state-owned telecommunication companies PT Telkom and PT Indosat, and PT M- Web Indonesia, had agreed to the blackout plan.
The blackout would close the Indonesian Internet Exchange (IIX) -- the local backbone for all ISPs in Indonesia.
Telecommunications expert Roy Suryo said the impact of shutting down IIX -- along which 246 megabytes of information travels per second -- would be severe as it could isolate Indonesia from the rest of the world.
"The most severely hit sector will be local websites, portals, and internet banking systems. It could not be accessed. But users could still access websites located in other countries," Roy said.
The blackout plan surfaced following frustration felt by APJII's members over what they saw as the government's inability to draw up strict regulations for the ISP industry.
Heru pointed out that the raid against VoIP (Voice Over the Internet Protocol) and 2.4 GHz frequency band operators last week by the police and city officials reflected the legal uncertainty plaguing the industry.
The government has banned VOIP and 2.4 GHz frequency band operators.
But Heru said that according to Ministerial Decree No. 21/2000 the operators were still allowed to run their businesses until the end of May.
VoIP is a technology for transmitting ordinary telephone calls over the Internet, allowing significant savings during long distance calls. The 2.4 GHz frequency is a frequency used as an effective and affordable data transmitter for wireless local area network. ISPs use these two technologies to expand their businesses.
APJII also lambasted the government for not quickly issuing licenses for the use of the 2.4 GHz frequency. "This is creating uncertainty to our business," Heru said.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications at the Ministry of Communication declined to make a comment over the blackout plan, with one official saying that the office would discuss it Wednesday.