RI to invest $4b annually in information technology
RI to invest $4b annually in information technology
JAKARTA (JP): Investments in Indonesia's information
technology such as telecommunications infrastructure and
multimedia facilities may reach US$4 billion a year, according to
a senior official.
Secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications, Jonathan L. Parapak, said yesterday that
about 80 percent of the total investment would come from the
private sector.
"In fixed telephone lines alone, we predict that total
investment per annum will reach at least $2 billion. The figure
will reach $3 billion if we include cellular services. Another $1
billion must be added if we include multimedia services," he told
journalists on the sidelines of a meeting held as part of the
five-day Asia-Pacific Telecom '97 Forum at the Jakarta
fairgrounds, which will end Wednesday.
There are currently about 4.7 million fixed telephone lines
and some 1.1 million mobile cellular phones in Indonesia.
In accordance with the rapid development of information and
telecommunications technology, people have altered the way they
communicate. Indonesia is also developing its information
technology services to meet public demand.
In its recent report, "Challenging to the Network:
Telecommunications and the Internet", the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) ranked Indonesia 44th out of 45
reviewed nations in multimedia access. The ranking is based on
penetration of telephone line density, TV set density and
Internet hosts density.
Hoping not to lag behind further, a number of companies have
created partnerships in Indonesia to prepare for the further
emergence of multimedia services and the convergence of equipment
and services from the telecommunications industry, computers,
newspapers, movies, cable television, publishing, broadcasting
and related commercial activities.
Telecommunications infrastructure is necessary and important
for multimedia services.
At least five firms have been set up in Indonesia to run
multimedia or multimedia-related services: PT YTC, PT Indonusa
Telemedia, PT Multimedia Nusantara, PT Multi Media Asia (M2A) and
PT Datakom Asia.
PT YTC is building a multimedia center claimed as the first
integrated and largest multimedia facility in Southeast Asia.
Among the companies participating in the multimedia business
are the state-owned companies PT Indosat and Telkom. State-owned
companies are the only institutions allowed to run
telecommunications services, including multimedia.
Cyber law
In a related development, Coordinating Minister for Production
and Distribution Hartarto said yesterday that Indonesia had set
up a ministerial-level coordinating body called Telematika
Indonesia to prepare Indonesia to enter the global information
society.
"The development and implementation of Indonesian information
technology requires the establishment of law and regulations
(Cyber Law) for intellectual property rights, electronic
commerce, electronic data interchange and information culture
creation," Hartarto said in his written speech at the Asia-
Pacific Telecom '97 Forum.
The conference is focusing on competitiveness through
multimedia and wireless technology in the 21st century.
Indonesia has also launched Nusantara 21, an information
infrastructure project which is part of Indonesia's vision to
make the country a fully-fledged member of the global information
society by early next century.
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 wide-band super
lanes by 2001.
Parapak said yesterday that the government also will set
clearer definitions in multimedia services.
"We have to be more specific in licensing any firms dealing in
multimedia services, whether as content or infrastructure
providers, operators or something else," he said. (icn)