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Ministry eyes graft-ridden BTS project completion by year-end
Around 1,200 base transceiver station (BTS) towers are still under constructions, says Deputy Communications and Information Minister Nezar Patria.
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A worker checks a base transceiver station (BTS) tower in Kutai Kartanegara regency, East Kalimantan on June 8, 2023. (Antara/Fakhri Hermansyah)
The multi-trillion-rupiah telephony project is on course for its completion by the end of the year, the Communications and Information Ministry has pledged, with authorities speeding up the construction of the remaining base transceiver stations (BTS) in the coming months.
The government has targeted to build 5,200 BTS across the country. Of the total figure, around 4,000 stations are already online. The remaining 1,200 towers are currently still under construction, said newly appointed Deputy Communications and Information Minister Nezar Patria.
“We will speed up the construction so we can hopefully complete it by the end of the year,” Nezar said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.
Of all the towers still under construction, Nezar added that the ministry expected some challenges upon building 500 telecommunications towers in Papua “due to the security and geographical situation in the province.”
Resource-rich and restive Papua has seen rising tensions in the past few months. Deadly skirmishes between security forces and armed rebel groups have become common following the capture of Philip Mehrtens, a New Zealand pilot working for frontier airline Susi Air, by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) in February.
