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Facebook, Google juggle three subsea cable projects in Indonesia
The cables would increase Indonesia's internet capacity with Asia Pacific and North America, but sources point to issues related to regulatory headwinds, unequal internet access and cybersecurity.
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The very high speed submarine cable "SEA-ME-WE 5" linking Singapore to France is seen during its installation on March 1, 2016 in La Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France. With four optical fibers and at 20,000 kilometers long, the cable connects 17 different countries. (AFP/Boris Horvat)
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ince March, United States-based tech behemoths Facebook and Google have announced three international subsea data cable projects to bolster Indonesia’s internet capacity with the wider Asia-Pacific region and North America.
The Echo, Bifrost and Apricot subsea cables (SKKL) have a combined length of 43,000 kilometers, with known landing stations in Manado, North Sulawesi, and Batam, Riau Islands, and are scheduled for completion between 2023 and 2024.
Stakeholders told The Jakarta Post that the subsea cables would particularly enhance Indonesia’s connectivity with the US, and that regulatory headwinds were the main risk to project delays.
However, a regulator and an expert also acknowledged that the subsea cables would not necessarily improve internet connectivity in eastern Indonesia, contrasting the claims of the projects’ developers.
“ICT development heavily depends on undersea data cables as the backbone of connectivity, and the challenge is much greater here than in non-archipelagic countries,” said Indonesia Sea Cable Communication Systems Association (ASKALSI) secretary-general Resi Bramani on Aug. 26.
Read also: Google, Facebook unveil new Asia undersea data cable plan
While 73 percent of Indonesia’s population of 270 million are online, the majority access the web through mobile data, with less than 10 percent using a fixed broadband connection at home, offices or public spaces, an indicator of the country’s market potential, according to a 2020 survey by the Indonesian Internet Providers Association (APJII).
