The pitfalls and promises of 5G in Indonesia

In Indonesia, the arrival of 5G has long been anticipated. The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) has called 2020 the year of 5G implementation, prompting the country’s telecommunication companies to begin preparations.

Jakarta-based mobile operator XL Axiata claims that by mid-2020, half of its base transceiver stations (BTS) – the towers that send cellular signal – will be connected to a fiber network. Meanwhile, Indosat Ooredoo claims that 30% of its BTS have completed the “fiberization” process.

Though 5G, which is actually an umbrella of technologies, promises faster speeds than 4G, there are trade-offs between the three different 5G spectrums.

• The low-band spectrum, which overlaps with 4G LTE, has a broad coverage area. However, its data speed can reach only 100 Mbps at most – below the theoretical limits of 4G technology.
• The mid-band spectrum can reach 1 Gbps and offers lower latency, but it has trouble penetrating buildings.
• The high-band spectrum can transfer data at up to 10 Gbps, but its has a smaller coverage area and its ability to penetrate walls is poor.

Implementing these 5G spectrums in Indonesia is challenging.

Does Indonesia urgently need 5G?

There’s the issue of motivation. Industry players tell Tech in Asia that there may not be an immediate need for a wide consumer rollout for 5G.

“Indonesia has a [maximum] wireless internet bandwidth of 737 MHz. The minimum requirement by 2024 is 2,042 MHz,” says Andrian Sulistyono, who has spent a dozen years working in telco companies like Nokia and Siemens.

While the bandwidth gap can be filled by 5G, 4G LTE penetration in is still uneven and around 13,000 villages in the country remain blank spots, he estimates.

The quality of Indonesia’s 4G LTE network is also spotty. OpenSignal recently published research stating that Sorong, a city in the eastern province of West Papua, surprisingly has the best video-streaming quality.

Muhammad Danny Buldansyah, deputy president director of telco firm Tri, believes this trend is normal. “In Jakarta, although the capacity is high, there are also many users because the utilization rate is also high,” he says.

Instead of rushing towards 5G, some believe that the country can improve internet access by optimizing 4G LTE networks. The recently completed Palapa Ring project is a case in point.

Meanwhile, Telkom Indonesia CEO Ririek Adriansyah finds that 5G rollouts would be more effective if they focused on the needs of the industry needs first, rather than the mass market.

Challenges of implementing 5G

Initial use cases for 5G