Indonesia finally gets a taste of 4G

(Updated on November 16h: We added information about Bolt’s normal price.)

If you’ve visited Indonesia, you’ll know that the country’s mobile internet speeds aren’t that high and 3G is the best you’ll get. Sometimes the 3G isn’t even that good. But there’s breath of fresh air in the mobile internet industry as Indonesians can now use 4G with a special mobile device called Bolt.

Built by Internux, an internet service provider (ISP), the Bolt (pictured right) is as big as the powerbanks Indonesians usually carry around for a battery power boost. The device can be connected via a USB cable or it can power zap wi-fi to up to eight devices. Its battery standby time is 150 hours, but it’ll be drained out after six hours of non-stop 4G tethering. And yes, you don’t need to have 4G enabled devices to use Bolt, because it’ll be giving high-speed wi-fi to your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Internux has invested as much as $550 million into its 4G internet service. Bolt has the potential to disrupt the mobile internet market in Indonesia. Here are two reasons why that’s the case:

1. Bolt is the fastest around

Bolt offers the most rapid mobile internet speeds in Indonesia. The device claims that it can hit up to 72 Mbps. DailySocial says it saw 87 to 89 Mbps downstream during the launch demonstration but when I tested the wifi connection, Bolt only got up to 15 Mbps.

Internux says that buyers need to use the USB plug to make full use of Bolt’s speed. It’s usual to get speed cuts via wi-fi, especially if it’s used by multiple parties at the same time.

The company safely say that Bolt’s average speed is 20 Mbps. But that speed is already faster than any 3G data packages offered in Indonesia. Telkomsel, the biggest telco in the country, only promises speeds up to 14.4 Mbps. Its average mobile internet speed is lower than that.

2. Bolt offers cheapest data plan

The Bolt routers will be sold at IDR 800,000 ($69) ¹ with an 8GB internet package for first month usage. Users will then be able to top up the 8GB data package for IDR 25,000 ($2) and use it for 30 days. That is not expensive when compared to the 3G data plans offered by telcos at the moment.

With IDR 25,000 ($2) you can only get 7.2 Mbps speed for 2.1GB of usage at XL Axiata. Indosat sells 6GB of data at 7.2 Mbps for IDR 25,000 ($2). While with Telkomsel’s Halo card, you only get 1.5GB per month at 14.4 Mbps for double the money.

Bolt will offer more data plans – including post-paid and prepaid – when the device is available to the public in a few weeks time. The team targets 10 million customers in its first year of operation in Indonesia.

Bolt is not perfect, of course. The device only works in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi cities (Jabodetabek) and there’s the possibility that users will get lousy internet speeds if the infrastructure can’t withstand the surge in new users. Internux right now has 1,500 base transmitter stations across Jabodetabek, and will increase that to 3,500 by 2015.

More 4G

Bolt will be joined in this sector later this year by First Media, which is also Internux’s partner. Liputan 6 cited First Media director Dicky Moechtar as saying that the company has invested $200 million to provide 4G coverage. It will be commercially available by the end of this year.

(Editing by Steven Millward)