More satellite licenses to come
By I. Christianto
GENEVA (JP): The Indonesian government will award more satellite licenses to private firms intending to operate and provide satellite network services, a senior official said here yesterday.
Secretary general of the ministry of tourism, post and telecommunications, Jonathan L. Parapak, said private firms played an important role in developing the country's telecommunications industry and satellite networks would be a promising business in domestic as well as regional markets.
"Why not (give more satellite licenses) if it's necessary and since there are still satellite slots available? We can penetrate overseas markets like China, India, Australia and so on. So don't only think about domestic competition in satellite business," Parapak said after delivering a presentation on national information infrastructure at the TELECOM Interactive 1997 Forum.
Currently three Indonesian firms operate satellites: PT Telkom, PT Satelindo and PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN).
PT Media Citra Indostar will launch its first satellite next month. PT Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) and PT Multi Media Asia (M2A), partly owned by PSN, will operate their own satellites in the next few years.
In the meantime, the government has booked 24 satellite slots at the International Telecommunications Union for further approval.
Parapak indicated that private firms, including the newly established multimedia companies, would likely be granted licenses to operate satellites.
"We rely on private firms (in developing the country), even Telkom is now a private firm as it has been listed on capital markets," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said the government, private firms and educational as well as research institutions must work hand in hand to realize the so-called Nusantara 21, a national information infrastructure.
Nusantara 21, a multibillion dollar communications project, is designed to connect the whole archipelago to the information superhighway. The project will include the development of multimedia technology in several big cities and wideband super lanes by 2001.
"We are still working on this project, it's reasonable if Indonesia has a low multimedia access rate," Parapak said.
In its recent report, titled "Challenging to the Network: Telecommunications and the Internet", ITU ranked Indonesia 44th out of 45 nations.
The multimedia access rankings were based on penetration of telephone line density, TV set density and Internet hosts density. The report shows that Indonesia's main telephone line density in 1996 was 2.1, while TV sets density in 1995 and Internet hosts density in 1996 were 18.3 and 0.005, respectively.
In his speech, Parapak said that Nusantara 21 is another breakthrough in Indonesian telecommunications technology after deciding to develop a communications satellite system, Palapa, in 1976.
Indonesia became the first Asian nation to operate a domestic satellite at a time when such a system was only applied by developed countries like Canada and the United States, he said.
Indonesia is currently developing telecommunications networks and infrastructure -- including fiber optics, submarine cables, terrestrial gateways and satellites -- for fixed telecommunications lines and cellular services.
Chairperson and senior advisor of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Diana L. Dougan, said the biggest problems in developing national information are technological protection, market reality and government promises.
She said many governments around the world failed to keep promises on new regulations.