Palapa Ring (12)

Yesterday, some media reported a "minor" update regarding the Palapa Ring project. Telegeography (citing AsiaPulse) mentioned among other things that the project shall cost around USD 700 mn. Bisnis (citing one of the ministry VIP) said that Palapa Ring project shall be supported by the govt's ICT Fund (loan 0% interest).

Telegeography: A group of three Indonesian telecoms operators have reportedly postponed until the end of this year plans to deploy a USD700 million fibre-optic telecoms cable in eastern Indonesia, citing financial obstacles as the reason. AsiaPulse writes the three - PT Telkom, PT Indosat and PT Bakrie Telecom – have jointly agreed to begin construction work on the Palapa Ring project in December 2009, rather than the original August start date.

Palapa Ring (11)

Now, Palapa Ring consortium consists of only three telcos : XL/Excelcomindo has recently left, due to significant loss last year. It was a bit surprising, since XL is the third largest telco, which owns significant fiber infrastructure across the country. Previously, Powertek and Infokom Elektrindo have also cancelled their commitment for Palapa Ring project. Check for the entire story here.

Palapa Ring (10)

I just want to quote and share two points which are addressed in this local media report :

• "Harga kabel jadi makin mahal. Padahal, lima puluh persen biaya operasional ditentukan harga submarine cable," keluh Ketua Konsorsium Palapa Ring, Tonda Priyanto kepada detikINET, Jumat (20/3/2009). Menurutnya, konsorsium keberatan dengan harga yang ditawarkan oleh vendor kabel optik peserta tender proyek. Tiga vendor NEC Corporation, NSW Fujitsu, dan Alcatel-Lucent, menawarkan harga US$ 50 ribu untuk harga serat optik per kilometer. Sedangkan konsorsium cuma menganggarkan dana US$ 20 ribu.

• Menkominfo Mohammad Nuh sebelumnya pernah mengatakan bakal mencari jalan keluar untuk masalah ini. Salah satunya, adalah dengan meminta bantuan dari negara lain. Kabar terakhir, menteri coba melobi Korea Selatan untuk menarik kabel laut dari Negeri Ginseng ke Sulawesi

Palapa Ring (9)

This post is dedicated for Palapa Ring fans :-D . Project's current state based on this report (12/03/2009) - citing the consortium's VIP Tonda Priyanto :

Palapa Ring (8)

Actually, there is no significantly observable progress of this Palapa Ring project since my previous post. Only some minor issues can be found as public releases (as of middle January 2009) :

Palapa Ring (7)

*Update*
According to some local news at the end of October, Powertek Utama Internusa has indeed withdrawn its membership from the consortium. This is based on some statements quoted from the consortium spokesperson Rakhmat Junaedi. But what a bit strange is that the company (Powertek) has stated that "it should not be finalized yet" !!

Palapa Ring (6)

Below are some updates for the Palapa Ring project as of September 2008. It seems that there are some route adjustments; and that now the project schedule is more realistic, taking into account current market situations.

• 2 FP for repeatered system
• 12 FP for inland and repeaterless system
• Construction begin on April 2009;
  
• RFS final (all segments) on September 2011
• Section 1 Mataram - Parigi
  
• Section 2 Palu-Sorong
  
• Section 3 Makassar-Sorong
  
• Section 4 Makassar-Mataram/Kupang
  
• Section 5 Sorong-Jayapura
  
• Section 6 Fakfak-Merauke
  

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
  

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:

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) :

Palapa Ring (2)

PII and IA-ITB have organized a one-day seminar on Next Generation Enterprise Network under a brand-name "Telecommunication Partnership Forum" (ShangriLa Hotel, 26th February 2008). This event was also supported by the Palapa-Ring consortium and by the government i.e. the Ministry of Communication and Information.

Several issues are revealed in this forum, especially those which are related to the Palapa Ring Project:

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 )