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Widespread 5G still far ahead for Indonesia
Indonesia recently welcomed the first two commercial 5G in the country but mass 5G availability would still be in the far future as the government focused on 4G network rollout in rural areas.
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ndonesia is projected to take more than six years to see widespread 5G adoption, despite recent milestones in 5G deployment, as the government is expected to focus on expanding 4G services at least in the medium term, experts and studies say.
Telecommunications Network Providers Association (Apjatel) chairman M. Arif Angga said 5G would likely follow a similar trajectory as 4G, which has yet to fully cover rural Indonesia, despite having been commercially available since 2010 and popular since 2014.
“Technological developments move so quickly that, even as we welcome 5G, many areas in Indonesia still do not have access to 4G, even after being around for six years. I would say it is impossible to have widespread 5G by 2022,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Arif went on to say that, because 5G-supporting applications such as virtual reality games were still scarce, 5G’s early use cases would be similar to 4G, such as video streaming and household WiFi, among other consumer-related uses.
“So, if people are still satisfied with 4G services, they don’t necessarily need 5G,” he said, but added that expanding 5G remained important over the long run so Indonesia did not fall behind other countries.
“I think the government’s focus on providing 4G is wise and makes sense,” Arif said.
Recently, two of the biggest telecommunication companies in Indonesia, state-owned Telkomsel and state-owned Indosat, launched the first-ever commercial 5G service in the country, marking Indonesia's entry into a global trend that is being led by China, South Korea and the United States.
Telkomsel launched its 5G service on May 31, targeting certain universities and high-end residential areas in Jakarta, while Indosat announced on June 22 its 5G services for selected areas in five cities.
Read also: Indosat launches 5G service shortly after rival Telkomsel
However, experts and studies say Indonesia still has a long way to go from wide scale 5G adoption due to the limited 5G use cases and uncertainty over 5G spectrum allocation, both of which are underpinned by government’s orientation to prioritize expanding 4G in rural Indonesia.
The Communications and Information Ministry plans to extend the coverage of 4G cellular network services to every part of the archipelago by 2022 because 12,548 out of 82,218 villages and subdistricts in the country did not have access to 4G services as of November last year.
Read also: Govt aims for nationwide 4G coverage by 2022
Financial intelligence firm Moody's Analytics expects Indonesia’s widespread commercial 5G launch to be after 2022. The firm classifies the country as a late adopter of 5G compared to other Asia-Pacific countries and as such would first focus on expanding 4G services.
According to GSM Association (GSMA) data, only around 5 percent of connections in Indonesia would be from the 5G network by 2025. The number is significantly lower than 33 percent in Hong Kong, which rolled out commercial 5G in April 2020.
“Late adopter markets could benefit from concrete timelines for 5G spectrum auctions and government support. Support typically comes in the form of reasonable spectrum prices and infrastructure planning,” Moody's report stated.
The firm also pointed out that most Indonesians could ill-afford a 5G-capable smartphone at the moment. A low-end model costs upward of $200 compared to the average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of around $4,000.
Indonesia ICT Institute executive director Heru Sutadi said more mobile operators would be driven to launch 5G networks, which would augment the technology’s competitive advantage in the country.
However, he also said that wider 5G availability would depend on the availability of a 5G-exclusive frequency band, which has been a long-standing problem.
“The government is also going back and forth on deciding whether to widen 4G network coverage or switch to 5G altogether,” he told the Post on June 29.
The ministry plans to free up 1,880 MHz of spectrum to enable 5G as outlined in Indonesia’s 2020-2024 National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) but faces challenges freeing up the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) and 700 megahertz (MHz) bands.
The 3.5 GHz band, which is the most popular band for 5G in other countries, is being used for satellite communications and the government is still discussing the band’s spectrum sharing mechanism.
The 700 megahertz (MHz) band is being used for analog television. The government plans to migrate all analog television to digital television, also known as analog switch-off (ASO), by November 2022.
The 2.3 GHz frequency band was auctioned off in April to two telco operators, namely Telkomsel and Smartfren. The frequency can be used for 5G but Heru said this would be a temporary arrangement.
Read also: Digital killed the analog star: Minister calls for TV transformation
“It seems like widespread 5G would be possible after the ASO unless the government can accelerate the 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz use [for 5G],” Heru said.
