Syahrial Ali's Blog

Indonesian Government will launch another 3G tender for a block of frequency (5MHz) using a beauty contest on April this year. For your information, all 5 3G operators (Telkomsel, Indosat, XL, HCPT and NTS) currently just have 5 MHz bandwidth. Previous Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Mr. Sofyan Djalil has already given a clue that some times in the future, government will provide additional bandwidth for the operator who really need it. And now, that promise is fulfilled.

Current Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Mr. Mohammad Nuh said that additional bandwidth for 3G is really needed in accordance with subscriber increments. Current channels are so crowded so that operator needs additional channel to maintain the quality of service.

Although using a beauty contest tender, government still retain the price as release on last tender (2006), that is IDR 160b ( US$15m) per 5 MHz. Telkomsel has agreed with that price while other operators bid for a lower price, i.e: PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk IDR 40b,  PT Indosat Tbk IDR 30b, PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler IDR 20miliar, and HCPT just bid for IDR 12b.

As can be seen from the price bid, Telkomsel will won the tender. If Telkomsel win,  Telkomsel will have a big opportunity to outperform the Indosat  for the data service. For your information, Indosat is the leading operator on providing mobile data services.

The Indonesian ministry of communication and information technology offers additional bandwidth for all 3G operators. For your information according to 3G tender 3 years ago, all 3 winners just owned 5 MHz. Previous 3G license holder, HCPT (3) and NTS (Axis) also received the equal bandwidth. The additional bandwidth offered is 5MHz for each operator at the lowest price of the tender winner (IDR 160b, around $15m).

Owning just 5MHz creates difficulties for operators to design their network. This will create impact on costing. Additional bandwidth (5MHz) will make life easier for operators as they will have several freedom in designing their network.  With a wider spectrum, operators can provide a better services for its customers. (more…)

Malaysia is a neighbor country of Indonesia. It has 2 separate lands, mainland and north Malaysia in Kalimantan. In several telecommunication regulations, Malaysia is ahead of Indonesia. Let’s see the 3 advanced cases below: 3G, WiMAX and Number Portability.

3G:

Malaysia released 3G licenses since July 2002, far before Indonesia who release the licensed on early 2006. Malaysia allocated 3 blocks, but at the tender the winners were only 2 companies namely: Telekom Malaysia  dan UMTS Sdn Bhd.  Both companies were already operated. On November 2006, the 3rd and 4th licenses were released to TIME dotcom Sdn Bhd and MiTV. (more…)