Dr. Ridwan Effendi tentang Transponder Asing yang Masuk Indonesia
Indonesia's geographical location as an archipelagic nation means the need for satellites to meet telecommunications network capacity remains quite high, especially since the government's Palapa Ring network only reaches major cities. Furthermore, much of the Palapa Ring backbone network lacks the last mile capability to connect smaller cities.
The government was reminded to be careful in providing funding for the Greater Indonesia Satellite (SATRIA) project because it has the potential to harm the country.
The rise of global satellite operators that can serve consumers in Indonesia at much cheaper prices makes... Mohammad Ridwan Effendi Secretary General of the Center for Telecommunication Policy and Regulation Studies, ITB, who is also a lecturer Telecommunication Engineering Study Program, Concerns about the effectiveness and utilization of the Republic of Indonesia (Satria) satellite are mounting. Furthermore, the 21 trillion rupiah (US$1.2 billion) spent to purchase the SATRIA satellite (excluding the ground segment) comes from universal service obligation (USO) funds.
"To serve USO areas, the government shouldn't need to own the SATRIA satellite. It could simply lease it from an existing satellite operator. Furthermore, with the abundant supply of satellite capacity expected in 2021, prices will tend to fall. If the government were to acquire the SATRIA satellite, it would be a significant budget waste," Ridwan said.
Ridwan requested that Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati review the plan to use state funds to finance SATRIA and evaluate it with Communications and Information Minister Johnny G. Plate. Besides reducing waste of state funds, a review of the SATRIA satellite could create a climate of healthy business competition. The government should not use operator funds, through BAKTI, to fight against other operators.
Ridwan said the 150,000 ground segments announced by the previous Minister of Communication and Information (Rudiantara) also included schools, state institutions, offices, and hospitals in Java that already have telecommunications networks. If BAKTI, with its SATRIA satellite, also serves areas with existing telecommunications services (the relevant markets), then the public service agency (BLU) under the Ministry of Communication and Information would become a telecommunications operator.
"There are concerns that the SATRIA satellite's operation will cannibalize existing satellite operators. Therefore, the use of USO funds for SATRIA is inappropriate. If this happens, satellite operators' revenue will decrease, affecting their USO funds. USO is taken from 1.25% of the operator's gross revenue," Ridwan explained.
Ridwan explained that the initial philosophy of the USO fund was that telecommunications operators would collect and deposit funds with the Ministry of Finance for development in areas that had no telecommunications services at all, not areas where telecommunications operators already had a presence.
"Therefore, the use of USO funds for the BAKTI satellite, which will serve 150,000 locations, is misplaced. BAKTI's target locations aren't just USO areas. SATRIA shouldn't take over the land of cellular operators or satellites. Furthermore, BAKTI's USO fees aren't substantial," Ridwan concluded.