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Speedier Internet is real'¦ in big cities
Indonesiaâs large size may cause the country to lag behind other nations in terms of Internet speed, but there are Internet service providers( ISPs) that offer fast broadband in some cities, particularly Jakarta
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ndonesia's large size may cause the country to lag behind other nations in terms of Internet speed, but there are Internet service providers( ISPs) that offer fast broadband in some cities, particularly Jakarta.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector players are willing to invest in new infrastructure to keep up with the latest technology. This so far has been demonstrated with reliable Internet available in Jakarta as well as Indonesia's other big cities.
However, the average Internet speed in the country in the first quarter this year stood at only 2.4 megabits per second (Mbps) while only 6.6 percent of homes had access to 4 Mbps or higher speed connections, according to Global ICT research firm Akamai Technologies.
As the world's largest archipelago, the majority of Indonesia's population is concentrated in big cities where businesses operate and the ICT-savvy and urbanites live. ISPs that offer super-fast broadband can be found in Jakarta and a few other cities.
The international data netindex showed that the country saw significant growth in Internet speed in September this year to 4.9 Mbps compared to 3.29 Mbps in the corresponding month in 2013. The study was prepared by Ookla, a global player in broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic applications.
The result, compiled by analyzing test data between Aug. 16 and Sept. 14, 2014, ranked Indonesia 142nd out of 192 countries tested in the period.
Tests from 4,261,684 unique IPs were taken in Indonesia and of a total 33,348,294 tests, 1,151,814 were used for the current index. In addition to the 4.9 Mbps for downloads, the results showed broadband speed in the archipelago reached 3.1 Mbps for uploads. In mobile access, the speeds were
2.3 Mbps for downloads and 0.7 Mbps for uploads.
Globally, the broadband speed in the testing period reached 20.56 Mbps for downloads and 8.99 Mbps for uploads. The mobile speed reached 8.9 Mbps (downloads) and 3.4 Mbps (uploads)
The netindex also revealed the top-10 countries with the highest Internet speeds in the period, including Hong Kong (93.4 Mbps), Singapore (79.75 Mbps), Romania (55.71 Mbps), South Korea (53.89 Mbps) and Lithuania (48.09 Mbps). The remaining five are Sweden with 47.13 Mbps, Switzerland (44.7 Mbps), the Netherlands (44.28 Mbps), Macau (43.31 Mbps) and Latvia 40.41 (Mbps).
Internet speed in Jakarta was 6.83 Mbps, a bit higher than the national average figure of 4.9 Mbps. Other top cities with good speed were Tangerang (5.75 Mbps), Bandung (4.27 Mbps), Bekasi (3.54 Mbps) and Medan (3.42 Mbps).
Ookla's netindex also named 20 ISPs with fast Internet in Indonesia in the testing period. Yet, there are only four ISPs with speeds of over 10 Mbps, including PT LinkNet (16.2 Mbps), PT IndoInternet (14.45 Mbps), PT Remala Abadi (11.43 Mbps) and PT Telkom (10.45 Mbps). The four companies are, no surprise, concentrating their services in the capital and the Greater Jakarta area.
Data from the Indonesia Internet Service Providers Association showed that by the end of 2013 there were 71.19 million Internet users in the country or about 28 percent of its population. The combined figures thus suggest that most users are living in Jakarta and its surrounding areas.
The companies offering high-speed Internet are long-time players such as LinkNet, which is associated with Lippo Group. Incorporated in 1996, LinkNet is an ISP for corporations and individuals, relying on a strong and high-quality fiber network.
The company, part of PT First Media, has a service dubbed FastNet 100 Mbps, high-speed Internet within the Greater Jakarta area. The product aims to support digital life style and targets those seeking fast broadband, such as online gamers, photographers and media streaming users.
A recent prospectus of the publicly listed company unveils it has allocated Rp 1 trillion for capital expenditure this year to connect up to 1.7 million households to the Internet by 2016, an almost 42 percent increase from its current level of 1.2 million.
LinkNet has over 330,000 broadband Internet subscribers and more than 1,000 corporate clients for its data communications services.
IndoInternet, better known as Indonet, is the first commercial ISP in Indonesia. Set up in 1994, the company claims to have delivered the excitement of Internet evolution to both individual and business users, triggering the development of the Internet sector and encouraging the growth of the overall market in the country. Indonet boasts to operate in 34 cities nationally.
Indonet offers suitable services for individuals or companies looking for fast connections to stream heavy Internet content, ranging from 256Kbps and above.
Remala Abadi, also known as Tachyon, commenced operations in telecommunications in 2009. It targets corporations, universities, government bureaus and Internet kiosks. The company offers infrastructure solutions, including backbones and backhauls, metro ethernet, point of presence as well as optical fibers.
The flag-carrier in the country's telecommunication sector, Telkom, offers broadband service through Speedy. Using ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Line Subscriber) technology, MSAN (Multi Service Access Node) and GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network), Speedy delivers high-speed digital signals through an optimum telephony network.
The data speed ranges from 384 kbps to 100 Mbps. Telkom said it was always open to new technology that could provide better services. (I. Christianto)
