Jakarta Metro Backbone

It seems that everybody in Jakarta want to have his own metro :-) Currently many companies have built their metro infrastructure to support their business, particularly in big cities such as the Greater Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Bandung etc. These include :

• well known telcos (TELKOM/TSEL, ISAT, XL, other?)
• successfull ISPs (BizNET,CBN, other?)
• VSAT network operators (CSM, Lintasarta, other ?); and
• backbone operators (ICON+,PowerTel,Napinfo,Moratel, other ?)

Recently, PT. iForte Solusi Infotek announced, that they have finished the construction of their fiber optic network which is using (and installed simultaneously with the development of) the TransJakarta busway infrastructure (map see below). They currently offer connection/access services called M-Wifo which are basically WiFi (802.11n compatible) access and fiber bridging. To my guess, it might be a RoF (Radio over Fiber) system.

Bandwidth "Under Water"

As Asia NetCom (currently PACNET) introduced its idea for EAC Pacific one or two years ago, they underlined the fact that due to underserved routes from South and South-East Asia, Japan-US connections have become a bottleneck. They have shown a picture similar to one below. It has attracted my attention since it split Asia into three regions together with their connectivity parameters. At least, it was something different than we might see in the free version of TeleGeography's reports/databases :-D CMIIW!

After a closer look at the given bandwidth figures and comparing with other publications (TeleGeography etc.), I have to conclude that it isn't real i.e. ANC possibly gave the capacity based on design numbers (fully equiped system). Right ?? Wrong ??

Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) Cable System

TPE (Trans-Pacific Express) is claimed to be "the first next-generation undersea optical cable system directly linking the US and China" and "the first major undersea system to land on the US West Coast in more than seven years". TPE will have a more than 60 times the overall capacity of the existing cable directly linking the US and China, and thus it will be a major enhancement to the current cable systems between these nations.

TPE links China (Chongming and Qingdao), South Korea, Taiwan, and USA (Nedonna Beach). TPE is owned by a joint venture (ownership is evently split) between 6 telcos: China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, Korea Telecom, Verizon Communications, AT&T and NTT (the two latest joined in 03/2008).

How Much Bandwidth do Indonesian ISPs Have ?

Though there are many Internet and NAP service providers running their business since several years ago, "big Internet pipes" are only owned by the (former-telco-only) giants: Indosat, Telkom, Excelcomindo, and Telkomsel. They may have a total international IP bandwidth more than 1 Gbps. Unfortunately, as usual :-D I don't have complete, official, clear, and confirmable numbers for that. Maybe next time, I would come with a simple calculation using several rough statistics found in the media and balanced with some cases (personal experiences).

Unity Cable System

Unity is a new multi-terabit transpacific cable system with Google's taste :-D As you can see at this post, I've misunderstood that EAC Pacific would completely be a new transpac cable. It shall actually be a part of the Unity cable. To my knowledge, there are currently three competing parties offering new Asia-US connections:

• Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) : Verizon's Taste :-)
• Asia America Gateway (AAG)
• Unity : PACNET, Google etc.

Any other planned cables ?

PT. Power Telecom (PowerTel)

Is there any relation between PowerTel Indonesia and PowerTel New Zealand/Australia ? Honestly I've just heard about this company a few months ago and about last week I was quite surprised when several media quoted the company press release that they are ready to offer services in Jakarta Bandung and that they are in the last stage of the preparation of Java-wide fiber optic infrastructure. Well, "Gut gemacht! Gratuliere!"

Facts and quotes:

FLAG Atlantic

Mobile Network Coverage : Telkomsel

As of Q2 2008 PT. Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel/TSEL) operates 23,056 BTSs (including 3G) and serves 52.44 mn subscribers (4% postpaid, 96% prepaid). 4.55 mn of those are new customers this year. As of Q2 2008 TSEL customers spent totally 32.1 bn MoU (Minutes of Use), which is equivalent to 178+ mn MoU each day. It is claimed that the current TSEL network can handle up to 54.8 mn subscribers.

Highlight Telkom

Telkom is the prime and largest operator offering fixed telephony (PSTN), FWA (brand "Flexi") and DSL services (brand "Speedy"). However by looking at subscription growth, it seems that wired-services are not prioritized anymore. As of Q2/2008, Telkom serves 8.7+ mn PSTN, 8+ mn Flexi and 0.5+ mn Speedy subscribers. The number of flexi subscribers may overtake that of PSTN by the end of this year or at the begin of 2009 at the latest.

PGASKOM (PGAS Telekomunikasi Nusantara)

It is not easy to find information for PGASKOM's backbone. PGASKOM is subsidiary of PGN (Perusahaan Gas Negara) which provides connection services using its fiber optic infrastructure currently installed along its gas pipes spanning from SG/Batam to Southern Sumatera (in the near future to Cilegon Banten and maybe to Jakarta). In an indirect press release several times ago as recorded by local newspapers (detik.com/bisnis?), PGASKOM shall have 96 core / 24 core fiber for terrestrial and submarine segments, respectively. Several cores shall already be leased by (some incumbent) telcos. Anybody knows more ??

New Asian/Transpacific Submarine Cables

In addition to AAG, several new cable systems in/via Asia are developed (just commissioned or currently under construction). This includes :

• Trans-Pacific Express (US-China)
• FLAG NGN (Intra-Asia, Intra-Africa, Mediterranean, Trans-Pacific)
• IMEWE/TIC (Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Europe)
• East Asia Crossing (EAC) Extension
  

National and Regional RENs

Actually since a long time ago I want to write threads about RENs (Research and Education Networks). Why? Simply because they were the origin of the current Internet and they still have a major role in creating advances in networking technologies. This time I would not start with an indonesian case (if INHERENT or Jardiknas can be categorized as a National REN/NREN), but with european cases.

Excelcomindo's Backbone

As of Q4/2006, Excelcomindo has installed and operated more than 2,300 km submarine and more than 5,500 km terrestrial fiber optic cable. This information can be used to check or balance my former calculation (however this was for Q4/2007, since it is based on the information from Kominfo on that time frame). I'm just thinking to derive a progress factor, something like fiber deployment rate each year each operator (km/year), just to have a rough metric for measuring operators' progressivity. Whether somebody out there (in Kominfo or in the operators) is already doing this??

Mobile Network Coverage

How many BTSs are needed to completely cover a city on average? 50 ? 100 ? more/less ? If each operator has its own tower, then it would be 250 to 500 towers in a city (assuming there are 5 operators, 1 BTS each tower).

Around two years ago, when I came back from Germany after several years leaving, almost every 1 minute or maybe less of my trip from Jakarta to Bandung (also inside the cities) I saw a BTS tower!! Several times later people told me that indeed due to "cellular wars", our cities have turned into "Hutan BTS" (BTS forrests). Well this is the fact. This might:

Highlight Axis (Natrindo - NTS)

PT Natrindo Telepon Selular (NTS - formerly Lippo Telecom Group) delivers its services under the brand "Axis". It is currently owned by STC (Saudi Telecom) via its malaysian subsidiary Maxis.

NTS has started its operation by February 2008. As of August 2008, they claimed that they have built approx. 2,000+ BTS and serve 1+ mn subscribers in Java, Bali and Sumatera (approximatly covering 25% of the population). They expect that they present nationswide in 2009 by increasing the network coverage with approx. 8,000 to 10,000 BTSs (Q4T/2009).

Highlight Three HCPT (Hutchison)

PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications Indonesia (HCPT) delivers its services under the brand "Three". It is the same brand as marketed in other countries by Hutchison group.

HCPT has started its operation by March 2007. As of August 2008, they claimed that they build approx. 6,000 BTS till Q4/2008 and currently serve 3.2 mn subscribers in Java, Bali and Sumatera (20% of the total customers of Hutchison group). They expect that they overtake Bakrie Telecom as the country's fourth largest cellular/mobile operator in 2009.

Highlight Mobile-8

Mobile-8 (M8) was established in 2002. It acquired Komselindo and Metrosel in 2003. It is known as the first CDMA public cellular operator in the country.

M8 currently exists with two brands: "Fren" for cellular CDMA services and "Hepi" for FWA services. The latter was just recently launched (May 2008). As of Q1B/2008, its customer base reaches 3+ mn.

Highlight Smart Telecom (Formerly Sinar Mas)

Smart Telecom has entered the market by late 2007. "Smart" was chosen as a new company name after consolidation of PT. Wireless INdonesia (Sinar Mas subsidiary) and PT. Primasel. Currently it serves 500+ th. subscribers and covers major cities in Java, Bali and Lombok with approx. 1,500+ BTSs. The company intends to expand network coverage to Sumatera, Kalimantan and Sulawesi by the end of this year and expects to acquire around 2 mn new customers. It is roumored that recently, Smart has also acquired some shares of PT. Moratelindo (??).

Highlight ISAT (Indosat)

As the current state, Indosat (ISAT) is the second largest cellular operator.

Customer base

• July 2008: 32.4 mn (97.5% prepaid)

Indosat's Backbone (2)

I've just found another version of Indosat's backbone. For me it looks a bit better than the previous one, though some links might still be not so accurate.

Asia America Gateway AAG (2)

One day in 2007 George McLaughlin has mentioned AAG as a possible infrastructure for supporting future Asian networks (APAN - in the context of RENs). It shall at the begin this year a decision whether or not APAN acquires a stake in the consortium. Since the Hengchun's earthquake many people see AAG as a potential infrastructure for increasing network reliability between (South/South-East) Asia and the USA, since it uses different routes than the usual Asia-US submarine cables. AAG also plays an important and strategic role that it can be extended to other countries/continents, thus increasing network reliability at a global scale (see the pic below).

Palapa Ring (5)

The last non-incumbent member of Palapa Ring consortium, PT. Powertek Utama Internusa has indirectly cancelled its membership (update to this post) . Thus the consortium currently consists of the four-biggest telcos:

• PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom)
• PT. Indosat
• PT. Excelcomindo Pratama
• PT. Bakrie Telecom
  

First Generation Domestic Optical Cable Systems

PT. Indosat has begun to deploy submarine cables since 1985 (optical?). PT. Telkom on the other side has stated that the TIS cable is its first optical submarine cable system.

Recently, according to ASN record, Telkom has already deployed an optical submarine cable system in 90s. Which is true ? Is it only the matter that TIS is international while the other is domestic ?

Highlight TSEL (Telkomsel)

Telkomsel (TSEL) is the largest cellular operator in the country.

Customer base

• February 2008: 50 mn (5 mn 3G customers)
• July 2008: 6.2 mn 3G customers; 106 th. 3.5G customers
• August 2008: 58+ mn
• Dec 2008F: 60+ mn subs

Jakasusi, Jasutra & SKKL-JS

Below are several domestic submarine fiber optic cable systems owned by PT. Indosat.

Jakasusi (JAva KAlimantan SUlaweSI) :

• Jakasusi segment 1 (B1) connects Banyu Urip (Jawa Timur) to Takesung (Kalimantan Selatan)
• Jakasusi segment 2 (B2) connects Takesung (Kalsel) to Aeng Batu Batu (Sulawesi Selatan)
• Length 1,000 km
• CAPEX USD 40 mio.
• Construction period : March 2006 - October 2006
• Contractor : Alcatel (ASN)
• Subcontractors :EGS Asia Ltd (route survey, burial assessment survey - February 2006)
  
• Capacity : ?

Highlight XL (Excelcomindo)

In this new "Highlight" thread, I would archieve some actual facts (of my interest) related to indonesian telcos/ISPs.

Currently, XL (Excelcomindo Pratama) is the third largest telco in the country. This is currently justified if we look at the customer base and some financial performances of the company. The current champion is Telkom Group (inc. Telkomsel) while the "vize" champion is Indosat Group. The position might change in the (near) future, especially since XL "moves" quite progressive after TM acquisition and after the former Indosat CEO Hasnul Suhaimi leads this company.

International IP Bandwidth

Currently I have only some official information specific to Indosat. This was presented by Indosat several times ago (Apricot 2006 Bali ??). However, it belongs to the "biggest" pipes owned by indonesian ISPs.

Indosat's IP Transit Bandwidth:

Can Broadband Spread to the Masses?

In this post, I just want to archieve some facts and opinions given by Arjun Trivedi (NSN-Nokia Siemens Networks) in the first Indonesian Broadband Summit held last April in Jakarta. The title above is taken from Arjun Trivedi's slides, since to my opinion, that title describes the most important message from his presentation. (I was not attending this event and just found his presentation material through a link referred from Mastel website). But don't forget to balance the question with "Where are the Masses?" :-)

Some facts/statistics as of end 2007 (source UN, Ovum, ITU, BIS Sharapnel, Operators, NSN Market Intelligence):

Wiring Kalimantan

As in the case of Sumatera, the biggest three telcos are developing their optical transmission infrastructure in Kalimantan. As you can see below, they have chosen to follow terrestrial paths approximately parallel to the coastal line of Kalimantan. This might mirror the actual social and economic development in Kalimantan. Festoon optical networks could still be possible to be deployed as backup for current almost linear topology.

Jasuka

Jasuka (Jawa Sumatera and Kalimantan) backbone is owned by PT. Telkom and was operated since early 2006. It consists of 2 rings and connects 30 cities in the islands including

• Ring 1 : Jakarta, Tanjung Pakis, Tanjung Pandan, Pontianak, Batam, Dumai, Pekanbaru, Jambi, Palembang,Baturaja, Bandar Lampung
• Ring 2 : Medan, Tebing Tinggi, Rantau Prapat, Pekanbaru, Bukit Tinggi, Padang, Sibolga, Pematang Siantar

Several other facts:

TIS Cable

TIS stands for Thailand Indonesia Singapore. As indicated by the name, it is an optical submarine cable spanning from Songkhla (Thailand) to Batam (Indonesia) via Changi (Singapore). TIS cable was the first submarine cable project of PT. Telkom.

Indosat's Backbone

In this post I just want to put some additional information (maybe "another view") of the Indosat's backbone mentioned in the this post. The map below was presented by Indosat in Apricot conference several times ago (2006, in Bali I guess). Does Indosat use any consortium's cables (SMW, APCN) just to link to Singapore ?

National Fiber Optic Backbone

How does Indonesia's backbone currently look like ? How many kilometers of fiber optic cables are laid/buried/mounted nationwide? How are they distributed ? Some of you might already be confronted with such questions. I could not help you with exact answers either :-). But let us make some approximations. If we only consider the three biggest players (Telkom, Indosat, and Excelcomindo), after a quick and dirty calculation and some image processing efforts, I have the following estimates.

Palapa Ring (4)

By yesterday (7/8/2008) PT. Infokom Elektrindo has renounced its membership in the Palapa Ring consortium. Thus it now consists of only 5 companies. From several VIPs of the consortium in a press release, several things are revealed:

Wiring Sumatera

Looking at the telecommunication infrastructure in western Indonesia, Jawa-Bali and
Sumatera are counted among the bests. Long distance transmission across the island is mainly served by terrestrial fiber optic links, which are approximately described in the picture below. This is based on the infrastructure of the three largest telecom operators PT. Telkom, PT. Indosat and PT. Excelcomindo (both existing or under development). The cable owned by PGASKOM (PGN) and possibly that of other operator(s) are not displayed yet. Several links might be inaccurate e.g. the link Pekanbaru-Padang (ISAT?) or Pekanbaru-Pariaman (XL?). Looking at this, to my opinion :

Palapa Ring (3)

It seems that the project is delayed, just like several other submarine cable projects :-)

Below are several issues related to the project as of March 2008 (source KOMINFO - Ministry of Information and Communications) :

Jakabare

If we look at the route maps published by nec.co.jp and matrixnetworks.sg, it seems that Jakabare and MCS share almost similar route path. I did a rough image matching on both pics; the result can be seen below. Except that Jakabare branches to Pontianak around 70 km (?) from Bangka, they seem just like a twin.

DMCS

Dumai Melaka Cable System (DMCS) is owned jointly by PT. Telkom and Telekom Malaysia. This was the second submarine cable project of PT. Telkom after the TIS (Thailand Indonesia Singapore) cable.

Indonesian DSL Market

The title might be broader than I could write here right now. However, as usual, the thread will be continued later if I get some new interesting information.

Though several small ISPs do offer DSL access, PT. Telkom is surely the market leader with 97+% market share (of the number of customers). You may see the number of customers as of Q2/2008 in the picture below. There are totally around 400 th. subscribers (we might compare with the number/statistics mentioned by Arjun Trivedi - however it is for Q4/2007). More than the half of it (200+ thousands) resides in Java.

High Performance BackBone (HPBB)

HPBB functions as the main backbone of PT. Telkom in Sumatera. It connects the following places:

• Medan, Pekanbaru, Jambi, Talang-Kelapa, Palembang, BandarLampung, Kalianda, Ciwandan, Cikupa, Jakarta
• Pekanbaru-Padang
• Pekanbaru-Dumai-Bukit Dangas, Batam (partially submarine link)
  

Currently Unknown/Unpublished Domestic Cable Systems

Some (probably) new domestic cable systems are still "undercover". Well it's true at least for me and the large community served by Google :-)

Which cables ?

Highlight BTEL (Bakrie Telecom)

With respect to customer base, Bakrie Telecom (BTEL) is currently the fourth largest operator. As of Q2/2008 BTEL services more than 5.4 mn customers in 47 cities spread in Java, Sumatera and Kalimantan. Early this year BTEL is also granted an IDD license by the government, so one might expect that the company will be more aggressive in the next years.

Palapa Ring

Posts related to Palapa Ring project:

• Palapa Ring (8)
  
• Palapa Ring (7)
  
• Palapa Ring (6)
  

• Palapa Ring (5)
• Palapa Ring (4)
• Palapa Ring (3)

• Palapa Ring (2)

• Palapa Ring (1)

Submarine Cables @ APAC

Some multi-national submarine cables in the Asia Pacific regions:

• Planned & As-Laid Pacific Cables
  
• Telkom's Batam Singapore Cable (BSCS?)
  
• BRCS(2)
  
• SCJ Plan
  
• PPC-1 (Pipe Pacific Cable-1)
  
• Intra-Asia and Transpacific Cables
• A (Possibly) New Competitor for Matrix and Jakabare

• Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) Cable System
• Bandwidth "Under Water"
• Unity Cable System
• New Asian/Transpacific Submarine Cables
• Asia America Gateway AAG (2)
• TIS Cable
• DMCS
• Jakabare

• MCS

• MIC-1
• BRCS: What's Wrong?
• AAG: Something New?