Palapa Ring (1)

I remembered when I was a teenager, the government was proposing a national broadband network called Nusantara-21 (N21). In an official document of the goverment, this concept was issued in 1988 (Wow!), about three years after Singapore launched its national IT plan. But I didn't hear it before the time where Singapore began its initiative SingaporeONE and Malaysia initiated the MSC project (surely several time after the Al Gore's 'Information Superhighway' speech :-D )

According to KKPPI, the government re-explores the N21-initiative. It is now called Palapa Ring. The official statement : "The combination of a much higher demand for telecommunication services, ICT applications and reduced costs due to the further development of Of technology has improved the financial feasibility" (of the project).

Need another explanation ? The Jakarta Post (31/01/08) wrote "The Palapa Ring is an ambitious project which aims to link Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua and eight existing network connections or backhauls through an estimated total 35,280 kilometers of undersea and 21,870 kilometers of underground fiber-optic cable".

An initial study has been done (Sofrecom, TT-Tel, ITB ??) and gives the following information:

• CAPEX: around USD 1,500 mn
• Coverage: 33 provinces; 440 districts; 35,000+ km undersea (well, festoon systems); 20,000 km terrestrial
• Construction time : 3 - 5 years (starting from Q3/2008 ?)
• Topology: 7 islands' ring + 1 national ring
• Capacity: 320 Gbps (4/8/STM-64) - 200 Tbps (4/8/40/160 - this is for me somehow not realistic without significant cost for equipment upgrades!)
• Demand in 2010 (rough model): Sumatera --> 120 Gbps; Java --> 150 Gbps; Kalimantan, Sulawesi,Bali-Nusa Tenggara --> 15 Gbps each; Maluku --> 5 Gbps; Papua --> 3 Gbps

The current project's status as reported by some newspapers is listed below:

• The government has coordinated the creation of a consortium consisting of six (6) entities, including all the major operators, for the initial implementation of the PALAPA RING in the eastern part of Indonesia (Telkom, Indosat, XL, Infokom Elektrindo, BTEL, Powertek Utama Internusa,Nusantara Ekaprana Teknoguna Kelola). The spokesperson of the consortium Rakhmat Junaidi (currently BTEL) said "We are about to finish the terms and conditions for the procurement and are hoping to invite bidders mid February" (2008). The bidding is expected to only cover the construction of 9,345 kilometers of undersea and 857 kilometers of underground fiber-optic cables in the eastern part of the archipelago.

• The Directorate General of Post and Telecommunication spokesperson, Gatot S. Dewa Broto, said that the fiber optic network in eastern Indonesia has the capacity of 20 Gbps with investment totaling USD 300 mn.