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n anticipation of the 2018 Asian Games taking place in Jakarta and Palembang in South Sumatra from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, telecommunications operator Telkomsel unveiled on Friday the 5G Experience Center in the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium complex — the Games’ main venue — in Central Jakarta.

The exhibition showcases the operator’s progress in adopting the next generation of broadband.

Among the prominent hands-on exhibits at the center are virtual reality (VR) installations Future Driving and Football 2022, multiplayer cycling game Cycling Everywhere, and an autonomous bus — all of which are powered by the 5G network. The driverless bus will act as an on-site shuttle vehicle that transports people to and from the Games’ venue.

“As the official mobile partner of the 2018 Asian Games, we are honored to be able to support the sports event through the implementation of our latest technologies,” Telkomsel president director Ririek Adriansyah said.

Despite the hands-on nature of the exhibition, however, company representatives confirmed that mass commercialization of the network still required up to five years of infrastructure development.

“We are currently still focused on 5G adoption for industrial automation purposes. Due to the network’s outstanding speed and low latency rate, 5G is ideal for the manufacturing industry,” said the company’s planning and transportation director Edward Ying, adding that the network would be available for mobile consumer use in Indonesia in 2025 at the latest.

Infrastructure issues hindering mobile 5G adoption in Indonesia could be attributed to mobile user behavior in Indonesia, according to Telkomsel spokesman Singue Kilatmaka. Of the total 178 million mobile Telkomsel users across Indonesia, 60 to 70 percent use 4G consistently. A seamless jump to 5G would require 100 percent adoption of 4G, he added.

“The remaining 30 to 40 percent of 4G users still occasionally switch to 3G, usually for battery-saving purposes,” Singue said, adding that, contrary to popular belief, 4G drains less power than 3G.

Telkomsel’s 5G network — which currently uses the 28 gigahertz spectrum as approved by the Communications and Information Ministry — is approximately 16 times faster than Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced Pro, the basis of the 4.9G network before the leap to 5G, according to Telkomsel network director Bob Apriawan.

The company had been improving 5G network speed since last year, he said. The download speed of 5G averages 16 gigabits per second (Gbps), which far surpasses 4G, which averages 0.30 Gbps, according to data from the on-site speed test.

An exhibit called Beat the Robot!, where the public can volunteer to play rock, paper, scissors against a 5G-powered robot arm, serves as a demonstration of the network’s low-latency rate. The robot arm can almost instantly respond to the moves made by its human opponent.

“The highly responsive robot arm proves just how efficient the use of 5G will be for industrial automation,” Bob said.

The 5G Experience Center, which will officially open to the public on the day of the Games’ opening ceremony, is the highlight of Telkomsel’s ongoing efforts to equip the Games’ vital venues with the latest networking technology, according to Ririek.

“We have also secured 1,000 base transceiver stations [BTS] in both of the [Asian Games] hosting cities, Jakarta and Palembang, to ensure smooth and efficient communication during the sports event,” Ririek said.

Amid the general excitement surrounding 5G, tech-savvy millennials such as gaming YouTuber Gema Naufal Riantoro — also known as GemmaD on the platform — expressed skepticism about consumer adoption of the network, especially for gaming and live-streaming purposes.

“I’m all for improved connectivity. However, I suspect that 5G will be nothing more than a brand for minor upgrades to the often unstable 4G network, which I currently use for gaming and streaming,” he told The Jakarta Post. (rfa)