Toekang IT

3G hotspots in rural areas

Aug 11, 2006 12:38

What does telecommunications mean? It's not merely about telephones, facsimiles, gadgets and the Internet--those are devices or the means only.

Let me tell you a story about my visit last month to the rural areas in Lampung Province, the southern part of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Actually it is a short flight--taking less than 20 minutes--from Jakarta to Bandar Lampung the capital city of Lampung Province.


But the location is quite a distance from the airport, requiring about 6 hours by car to get to Buay Bahuga, a small village in Way Kanan District.

You might not believe, considering how isolated this village is, that at a secondary school here, we could surf on the World Wide Web through broadband access at a throughput of up to 700 kilobytes per second!

Thanks to the Qualcomm Wireless Reach Initiative, the real wireless world has been coming true here.

Students surf the Web over 1xEV-DO

My colleague Harry K. Nugraha, country manager of Qualcomm Indonesia, said his company collaboratively worked with Sampoerna Telecom Indonesia (STI), Axesstel Inc., IndoNet, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the State Ministry for the Accelerated Development of Disadvantaged Region to introduce CDMA450 wireless technology into Way Kanan, providing broadband wireless voice and data services access to the area.

CDMA Development Group stated that CDMA450 networks are now deployed in 35 countries around the world and additional networks will soon be launched or are on trials. In Southeast Asia, commercial CDMA450 networks have already been deployed in Indonesia (by STI), Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Nugraha stated that the cornerstone of the program is the establishment of computer laboratories with Internet access in five high schools in Way Kanan: Buay Bahuga, Negeri Besar, Negara Batin, Rebang Tangkas, and Pakuan Ratu.

In addition, "cellular kiosks or warsels are being established in 59 villages to increase access to telecommunications", Nugraha said.

This project seeks to connect communities that have limited or no telecommunications access through the use of 1xEV-DO-based 3G technologies.

Like Japan, Indonesia has decided to deploy both 3G technology models: W-CDMA and 1xEV-DO.

There are about 45 million people using mobile phones in the country at present, and almost six million of them use CDMA2000 1x.

Indonesia has five 3G W-CDMA licensed-operators: Telkomsel, Indosat, Excelcom, Cyber Access Communications and Natrindo Telepon Selular. As the latest path of the GSM roadmap, these operators conducted W-CDMA service trials last year.

Moreover, four CDMA operators-- Telkom, Bakrie Telecom, Mobile-8 and Indosat--which don't need licenses to run 3G services because CDMA2000 1x has the advantage of being considered as "3G-ready" technology, also already carried out the 1xEV-DO trial last year.

While 3G is just in public discourse in cities like Jakarta and Surabaya, as none of the 3G-licensed operators and 3G-enabled operators are operating so far, it's quite amazing that 3G access has been effectively implemented and used in isolated villages like Buay Bahuga.

Myself, I was very happy to see how excited the students were surfing on the Internet in their computer lab. They enthusiastically told me how they found unimaginable and unthinkable experiences on the Web.

"Wow! I just knew recently that everything is there," said Santi, one of the students.

Yes, I think that is what telecommunications means: When everyone, even those who come from rural areas, can communicate and connect to the world easily.

Welcome to 3G villages!

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