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Indosat launches 5G service shortly after rival Telkomsel
Indosat has launched a commercial 5G service in selected areas of Jakarta, Surakarta, Surabaya, Balikpapan and Makassar and plans to expand the high-speed connectivity to five more cities by year-end.
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ndosat has launched a commercial 5G service covering selected areas of five cities and plans to offer the high-speed connectivity in five more cities by year-end.
In the initial stage, the 5G service would be available in parts of Jakarta; Surakarta, Central Java; Surabaya, East Java; Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indosat SVP-head of business planning Shatya Framudia said on Tuesday.
“The service is available at several points of interest, such as schools and City Hall,” he said in an online press conference, “but we will develop the ecosystem and network so that, by year-end, we will add five more cities to the [5G] rollout.”
He went on to say that Indosat clients using 5G-capable smartphones only needed to subscribe to Indosat’s 5G data package. The package currently cost Rp 100,000 (US$6.91), but the company did not reveal the data volume included.
Shatya said telecommunication companies typically set the price for 5G services 20 to 25 percent above that of 4G services. However, he said Indosat was still studying the appropriate price for the Indonesian market.
Meanwhile, Indosat SVP-head of network operations Agus Sulistio Agus said that, during the trial period, the 5G service had reached a top speed of 540 megabits per second (Mbps) with 10-millisecond latency. The company planned to improve its 5G performance, he said, adding that the current speed was “more than enough” for average daily use.
Aside from faster browsing, 5G connections also enable fast video games and support data-intensive augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications.
Indosat chief business officer Bayu Hanantasena said that, to serve the business-to-business (B2B) market, Indosat may set up local 5G infrastructure for enterprises and manufacturers to benefit from the 5G service even when the network had yet to cover the entire area.
The 2020 Ericsson Mobility Report stated that telecommunication operators in Indonesia could increase their revenue by 35 percent, or $8.2 billion, by 2030, if they offered 5G services to manufacturing firms, energy providers and utilities as well as media and entertainment companies.
Read also: 5G to add $8b to telco revenue in Indonesia by 2030: Ericsson
Indosat is one of Indonesia’s top three telecommunication providers and the second to offer a 5G service. The first was state-owned Telkomsel, which announced its 5G service in May.
Telkomsel said would made 5G connections available in residential areas of Jakarta and South Tangerang, given potentially high consumer demand for data services in those areas.
Read also: Telkomsel launches first commercial 5G in Indonesia
Telkomsel, Indosat and XL all trialed 5G networks during the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra.
