"Come to think of it, there's no other event in Indonesia that relates more to members of the population than this," said Phil Payne of Amdocs in a friendly chat.
And he was right.
The 2nd Annual Indonesia Telecoms International Summit by Frost & Sullivan and MASTEL, held from Nov. 11 to 12, covered most telecommunications issues and developments in the nation. For starters, the nation's cellular phone penetration reached 144.64 million in July 2009, with an impressive annual growth rate of 41 percent.
The involvement of internationally acclaimed speakers, delivering presentations on different topics in front of a live audience in the ballroom of Hotel Mulia Senayan, was a plus point in comparing developments in other nations, such as India and Australia, to ours.
Andrew Messenger from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia, for example, gave a detailed explanation of Australia's A$43 billion National Broadband Network as a case study to Indonesia's Palapa Ring project, which was in line with the summit's theme, Migration towards Nationwide Broadband Connectivity.
Basuki Yusuf Iskandar, the secretary-general of the ministry of communications and information, opened the summit on the morning of Nov. 11, stating that "Rp1.2 trillion worth of incentives have been prepared to develop telecommunication infrastructure in Eastern Indonesia starting next year." He also stated that the incentives will be subtracted from the Universal Service Obligation fund.
Koesmarihati Sugondo, former commissioner of the Indonesian Telecommunication Regulation Body (BRTI), also attend the summit as a keynote speaker, giving an update on the government's Communication Access Points program in rural areas.
Frost & Sullivan also hosted the annual Indonesia Telecoms Awards on the evening of Nov. 11, acknowledging outstanding players in the industry.
In the vendor category, Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia received the Wireline Telecom Equipment Vendor of the Year award, while Huawei Tech Investment received the Wireless Telecom Equipment Vendor of the Year award.
In the service provider category, Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) snatched three awards: Data Communication Service Provider of the Year, Broadband Data Service Provider of the Year and Mobile Service Provider of the Year. Indosat won the last award in the category, the Mobile Data Service Provider of the Year award.
The best of the best category saw an even spread of awards, with Bakrie Telecom as Market Challenger of the Year in wireless, and Indonesia Compnet Plus in Data Communication. The end of the ceremony saw Telkom as the Service Provider of the Year.
