Telkom links regions to tallying network

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta

Less than a week ahead of the presidential election, state telecommunications company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) announced on Tuesday to have linked up most subdistricts and regencies in the country to a wide-area network (WAN) that will allow them to maintain a continually updated ballot-count.

Mahmur Suriadiredja, head of the Telkom election project Fastel Pemilu 2004, said the company had conducted a series of checks on the WAN connecting 2,561 subdistrict and 414 regental/municipal administrations.

"As of today, 80 percent of the subdistricts and regencies have been connected to Telkom's network. We will complete the connection at least three days before election day," Mahmur said.

The company has also conducted test runs on its facilities, including central phone and transmission lines, he said.

Some 1,800 subdistricts, or 36 percent of all subdistricts, are not covered by Telkom's network and will use satellite facilities provided by Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) to access the data.

"Computer data can be sent to the KPU via satellite," Mahmur said, referring to the General Elections Commission, and explained that several subdistricts could not be linked to the Telkom network because of a lack of hardware.

"Their computers have either been stolen or broken. We cannot connect them until new computers are available," Mahmur said, but did not provide further information on the affected subdistricts.

Telkom has improved its services for the presidential election at the request of the KPU, including the setting up of 700 network access ports for District Polling Committees (PPKs) and 150 ports for Regional General Elections Commissions (KPUDs).

During the legislative election, the KPU had only requested 400 WAN ports for the district/subdistrict committees.

Telkom is also providing data linkup services through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for secure data delivery from local polling committees to the KPU's central database.

A VPN is an online network service through which data can be transmitted; the data traffic to and from the Internet is encrypted for security and allows for private communication.

To prevent disruptions to the network, Telkom has stationed 5,700 employees at 440 network posts nationwide.

Telkom has received a budget of Rp 17 billion (US$1.8 million) from the KPU to provide telecommunications facilities for the duration of the election year.