Telkom plans switch to fiber-optic cables

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom is considering replacing its satellite network with fiber-optic cables by 2010 to meet a growing demand for data transmission.

Telkom vice president for planning and development Djafar Sumantri said here on Tuesday that in the future the satellite would no longer be adequate to ensure the rapid transmission of data.

"Satellite is not ideal because there's a time delay which can be as long as 800 milliseconds," he said, explaining that with fiber-optic cables the time delay would be a maximum of 400 milliseconds.

Furthermore, Djafar said that during heavy rains, transmission via satellite could experience lapses of up to 20 milliseconds.

"For voice transmissions (the lapses) don't really have an impact, but when you're downloading data you'd have to start over again," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on telecommunications here.

Djafar said the demand for data transmission in the future would greatly increase and the need for seamless transmission would become more and more important.

To meet growing demand for seamless data transmission, Telkom plans to link major islands in the Indonesian archipelago with fiber-optic cables, Djafar said.

Major cities in Java are already linked with fiber-optic cables, he said, adding that large cities in Sumatra would also be linked with fiber optics by 2004.

"We have also linked Kalimantan to Surabaya using submarine fiber-optic cables," Djafar said, adding that Telkom was also in the process of negotiating with Singapore to link the Indonesian fiber-optic network to the rest of Asia.

He said that although the initial investment for fiber optics was much higher than for satellites, the maintenance and cost to end users would be less expensive.

"Fiber optics has a much bigger bandwidth, therefore it will be cheaper for transmission," Djafar said, explaining that with a bigger bandwidth the cables were capable of transmitting more data at faster transmission speeds.

However, the satellite network will not be altogether abandoned, as it was still a reliable medium for television and radio broadcasts and was still useful for voice transmissions linking remote areas of the country.

"But for people in big cities like us, our needs are more advanced and require a higher technology," Djafar said. (tnt)