KOMINFO REMAINS COMMITTED TO DEVELOP WIDESPREAD INTERNET ACCESS IN PAPUA DESPITE KKB THREAT

KOMINFO REMAINS COMMITTED TO DEVELOP WIDESPREAD INTERNET ACCESS IN PAPUA DESPITE KKB THREAT

The bloody attack that killed 8 employees of PT Palapa Timur Telematika (PTT) last Wednesday (2/3) will not stop the government from building telecommunication infrastructure in Papua and its surroundings.

Quoting inet.detik.com, Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Johnny G Plate said that the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) will always try to cut the digital gap that is still happening in Indonesia.

Johnny does not deny that infrastructure development in eastern Indonesia has complex challenges, ranging from natural factors, transportation, to security issues.

“The workers who serve in Papua are extraordinary individuals whose tasks is to build Information and Communication Technology (TIK) infrastructure, to catch up with underdevelopment and parity with other nations,” said the Minister of Communication and Information in Jakarta, Thursday (17/3/2022). ).

This incident will not dampen the efforts to balance the telecommunications infrastructure that is being carried out by the Ministry of Communication and Information through the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (Bakti) with PT Palapa Timur Telematika (PTT) as the Implementing Business Entity for the consortium of Moratelindo, Inti Bangun Sejahtera, and Smart Telecom.

“We will continue to develop TIK in Indonesia, including the Papua region,” said the Minister of Communication and Information. Kominfo also coordinates so that there is assistance from security forces for telecommunication workers who are carrying out their duties. “Coordination across ministries and agencies is certainly carried out, vertical coordination between the central and regional governments is also carried out, and everything is always adjusted to local conditions. This is a security challenge. Challenges caused by humans that we must prevent together,” he said.

The Minister of Communication and Information gave awards and compensation to the families of the victims of the KKB attack in Papua. As stated by Johnny, this is a way of remembering the sacrifices of 8 PTT employees and become role models.

“Their sacrifice must not be in vain, it must be an important point in the history of this nation,” Johnny said. The Palapa Ring project, or later known as the Sky Toll, is a broadband internet network connectivity that will connect 57 regencies/cities in Indonesia, which so far have not been covered by the internet backbone network due to difficult geographical and demographic positions, being in the forefront, outermost, and underdeveloped areas. (3T).

The Palapa Ring network is implemented by installing 36,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable which is divided into three packages, West, Central, and East. The East Palapa Ring package, which is being built by PTT, covers 35 regencies/ cities in the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, West Papua, and Papua. The total length of the fiber optic cable is about 8,450 kilometres, with a bandwidth capacity of 80 Gbps.