Indonesian telco Telkomsel says it has rolled out 49 new base stations to support 5G and 4G services in the country’s new capital of Nusantara (IKN), which would make it the only 5G service provider in the city when it’s officially inaugurated on August 17.
In a statement issued this week, Telkomsel said the new base stations cover the Central Government Core Area (KIPP) and other supporting areas in Nusantara, which is located on the island of Borneo in East Kalimantan.
Telkomsel also said it has optimised its network in two IKN buffer cities, Balikpapan and Samarinda. That project was focused on ten strategic areas such as airports, shopping centres, hotels and main roads connecting the two cities with IKN. The objective is ensure optimum connectivity for customers who coming in and out of the IKN area, the telco said.
The 5G installations will make Telkomsel the only 5G provider in IKN for the time being. Rival telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has invested at least US$10 million to build out 4G infrastructure in Nusantara and beef up existing infrastructure in the area. Indosat president director and CEO Vikram Sinha told Nikkei Asia in November 2023 that Indosat is only deploying 4G in IKN because there are "still a lot of things which can be done” with 4G.
Meanwhile, Telkomsel said it has also established two customer service centres in the IKN area – one at the IKN Construction Worker's Residence (HPK), which was launched last week, and one at Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan International Airport in Balikpapan.
"We hope to provide a smooth and efficient communication experience in meeting the digital needs of all customers at IKN, as well as showing IKN's readiness as the centre of future government,” said Telkomsel network director Indra Mardiatna.
Delays and budget questions
Just how ready IKN is remains an open question. The US$32 billion project, first announced in 2019, has been under construction since July 2022. While the roadmap calls for Nusantara to be fully completed by 2045, it was originally scheduled to officially replace Jakarata as the new capital city of Indonesia this month. President Joko Widodo began working from the new presidential palace last week, but according to The Guardian, IKN’s construction is way behind schedule, with most buildings still unfinished. Plans to relocate Jakarta’s 12,000 civil servants to Nusantara – which was supposed to happen last month – have been delayed.
While Nusantara will still be officially inaugurated as part of its Indonesia Independence Day celebrations on August 17, it won’t be officially decreed the new capital city. That might not happen until at least October 20, when president-elect Prabowo Subianto is inaugurated, the report said.
Apart from the general infrastructure challenges of building any new city, Nusantara has the additional challenge of establishing itself as a modern and sustainable “smart city”. Telkom Indonesia has signed separate MoUs with KT Corp and NEC to collaborate on developing smart-city solutions for Nusantara. However, the smart-city aspect adds to both the complexity and the cost of the project.
Senior researcher Tauhid Ahmad from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance said on Wednesday that the cost of smart city projects is significantly higher than conventional infrastructure projects, even when factoring in the efficiencies of renewable resources, according to the Jakarta Globe.
Tauhid said the government’s IDR71.8 trillion (US$4.5 billion) budget for Nusantara’s development from 2022-2024 is not nearly enough to support its initial smart-city ambitions, which would require between IDR300 trillion and IDR400 trillion.