Indonesia’s Nusantara telco infrastructure to be ready by August

This is part of the government’s goal to design Indonesia’s future capital as a sustainable city.

Telecommunications infrastructure in Indonesia’s planned new capital city of Nusantara is expected to be operational by August this year, authorities said.

The Nusantara Capital Authority (OIKN) set August as the deadline for the network to be operational to connect the country’s future capital city, in time for the planned relocation from Jakarta starting in early 2024.

“All must be ready and operate in August this year,” said OIKN Deputy for Facilities and Infrastructure Silvia Halim.

According to Halim, the OIKN appointed local telco firms Telkom Indonesia and PLN Icon Plus to provide joint telecommunications infrastructure such as fibre optic networks and base transceiver stations.

“The physical (infrastructure) is one, but it can be used by many. Thus, business entities can practice business-to-business with the infrastructure providers that we designated,” Halim said, as quoted by local reports.

Halim noted that OIKN implemented a limited selection process in 2023. The candidates considered were those that already had permits when OIKN tendered the project and had infrastructure in the North Penajam Paser district where Nusantara is located.

The shared telecoms infrastructure is in line with the government’s goal of designing Nusantara as a sustainable city.

The new capital city was named Nusantara, meaning “archipelago,” and is estimated to cost over $35b to construct, according to the government.