Jakarta to become fiber-optic city

Tifa Asrianti ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 10/15/2008 10:39 AM  |  City

The city administration plans to develop the fiber optic network to reduce the number of base transceiver stations (BTS) and to improve Internet connections in high schools.

Governor Fauzi Bowo said Tuesday that the fiber optic network would be more cost efficient for BTS owners because the equipment could be attached to existing buildings, street lamps or pedestrian bridges and would require no tall towers.

"I will soon issue a gubernatorial regulation about where the equipment will be allocated," he said.

He said the antennae system currently in use had divided Jakarta into 861 cell sites, with each site needing three or four antennae.

Sarwo Handayani, assistant to the city's secretary for development affairs, said the administration would involve the private sector in the development plan.

Fauzi said the development would complete the existing fiber optic network. He added that, in the medium to long term, Jakarta's commercial areas would use optical fibers while less commercialized areas could continue to use antennae.

"We will carefully design the development to guarantee good transmission quality and ensure there are no blank spots. We will also ensure the minimum decibel level," he said.

The fiber optic network development plan is in line with the plan to regulate the BTS towers, which now number 2,092. The city administration originally planned to allow 800 communal towers.

As well as reducing the number of BTS towers required, the fiber optic network development is expected to boost the usage of information communication technology (ICT) in high schools.

Fauzi said using ICT in schools would improve learning opportunities, competitiveness, accountability and public image.

"With the fiber optic network development plan on the way, we also expect to our students to achieve more in the future," he said.

Margani Mustar, head of the secondary education agency, said that all state high schools and vocational schools had Internet connections, whereas only 60 percent of the private secondary schools were connected to the Internet.

Jakarta currently has 116 state high schools, 62 state vocational schools, 346 private high schools and 606 private vocational schools.

"Our target is for each classroom to have LCD projectors and computers. However, the most important thing is to nurture the culture of information communication technology use among students," Margani said after launching an ICT-based community for high schools.

The city administration set up an online system for student enrollment, school administration system and school budget.

The online program has connected more than 10,000 computers in schools, allowed 100 schools to have hotspot areas, furnished 200 staff rooms with LCDs and provided around 7,000 teachers with laptops.

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