Yessar Rosendar

WiMax Suppliers Ready To Meet Indonesian Demand

The domestic telecommunications equipment industry now has the capacity to produce enough advanced wireless broadband components to satisfy a government rule for telecoms to buy local, industry leaders said.

In October, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology issued a regulation requiring all telecom companies to spend at least 35 percent of their budgets for new equipment locally.

Sylvia Sumarlin, chairwoman of WiMax Forum Indonesia, said on Thursday that local manufacturers of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access equipment would be able to meet the industry’s needs.

“Our local manufacturers are now able to produce base transceiver stations, consumer product equipment, indoor units and the software for the network,” she said.

Sylvia said there were eight local manufacturers able to produce WiMax equipment: PT Gema Teknologi Indonesia, PT Realta Chakradarma, PT Panggung Elektrik Citabuana, PT Berca Cakra Teknologi, PT Jetcoms Netindo, PT Xirca Dama Persada, PT LEN Industri (Persero) and PT Olex Cables Indonesia.

The regulation is aimed at supporting the growth of a local telecommunications equipment sector and to make Indonesia less reliant on imports.

“Currently, the growth of the operators does not result in the growth of local manufacturers,” said Basuki Yusuf Iskandar, the ministry’s director general for telecommunications. “If the situation doesn’t change, the number of local manufacturers will keep decreasing.”

The implementation of WiMax is seen as a way to provide broadband access to millions of Indonesians and will help meet the government’s target of making the technology available to every person in the nation by 2015. It provide speeds of up to 30 Mbps and provides access to anyone within 30 kilometers of a BTS.

However the government’s lack of action in providing licenses for a more advanced version of WiMax is frustrating the industry and making it questionable whether it will achieve its target.

Companies operating WiMax networks in Indonesia require approval from the government, which currently only offers licenses for a less advanced version of the technology, which is fast being superseded by the next generation.

“We can’t export [the outdated equipment] to other countries, because their standards have moved to [the new technology” Sylvia said.

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