Internet users in Indonesia will soon be able to enjoy the 5G network with the debut of 5G in from Telkomsel, which has officially been awarded an operational eligibility certificate (SKLO).
Telkomsel will become the first operator in Indonesia to officially roll out 5G services commercially and for domestic customers. The plan is that Telkomsel’s 5G launch will take place on 27th May.
Not all internet users in Indonesia will be able to enjoy the service; Telkomsel will only deploy 5G services in six residential areas in Jabodetabek, namely Kelapa Gading, Pondok Indah, PIK, Widya Chandra, BSD, and Alam Sutera, South Tangerang.
Several other cities will follow shortly, namely Batam, Medan, Solo, Bandung, Surabaya, Makassar, Denpasar, and Balikpapan.
President Director of Telkomsel Setyanto Hantoro said that it is uncertain when the 5G network will be evenly distributed in Indonesia.
“Learning from 4G, it will take six years for equal distribution, I imagine 5G could be shorter because the technology is more sophisticated, so the implementation will be faster,” said Setyanto.
He went on to say that, in order to roll out 5G, there are several things that need to be considered. One of them is the need for large sums of capital. That is why, in the initial stage, Telkomsel will only launch 5G networks at specific points.
He also added that the implementation of 5G must adapt to the use case.
“This use case is what we can give to the community, the goal is clear so that their life is more productive and easier,” said Setyanto.
Meanwhile, the Communication and Information Minister, Johnny G Plate, also said that the deployment of 5G will be different from its predecessor networks. In addition to the significant capital investment, internet operators must also pay attention to the road map and ecosystem aspects of the local government because of the extensive infrastructure deployments.
Another important aspect is the industrial ecosystem and market readiness in adopting 5G technology. “The 5G network is related to national security, defense and resilience as well,” said Johnny.
To deploy 5G, Telkomsel is using the 2.3 GHz frequency band for the data plane and the 1,800 MHz frequency band for the control plane. The company recently won the 2.3 Ghz frequency band auction and received two frequency blocks totaling 20 MHz.
Overall, Telkomsel has an allocation of 50 MHz on a frequency of 2.3 Ghz. Meanwhile, on the 1,800 MHz frequency, Telkomsel has a band allocation of 22.5 MHz.