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Indosat launches 5G in Balikpapan to support industry, smart cities
Indosat Ooredoo has deployed its 5G services in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, the fifth city so far, in a gradual rollout targeting cities with high industrial and smart development demand for the technology.
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ndosat Ooredoo on Thursday launched its 5G services in the East Kalimantan port city of Balikpapan to provide infrastructure for industrial development and smart cities.
Indosat Ooredoo director and COO Vikram Sinha said that the 5G rollout in the province would also support the proposed site of the new capital city in North Penajam Paser, around 70 kilometers from Balikpapan.
Sinha said the telecommunications company hoped to see greater use of its 5G technology in the manufacturing and oil and gas industries.
“Balikpapan is the gateway to the new capital city,” said East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor. “It is a good opportunity for Indosat to develop its business here,” he said, referring to the planned site of the nation’s new capital.
President Joko Widodo said in September that the new capital would be up and running in 15-20 years, with some basic services to be operational by 2024.
Read also: New capital will take decades, not years: Bappenas
East Kalimantan’s 2020 gross regional product (GRP) reached Rp 607.3 trillion (US$42.31 billion) with the mining industry contributing the largest share (41.43 percent) according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
Prio Sasongko, Indosat Ooredoo regional head for Kalimantan and Sulawesi-Maluku-Papua (Sumapa), said the company had been promoting the use of private 5G networks to the mining industry and was ready to support smart cities and smart government.
“We have deployed the 5G network in Balikpapan for the local government, schools and the biggest oil companies in Indonesia, and we hope new activities will emerge [as a result],” he said.
Indosat Ooredoo has launched its 5G network in five cities to date, starting in June with Surakarta, Central Java, followed by Surabaya in East Java and Jakarta. In November, the company launched commercial 5G services in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
Read also: Indosat launches 5G service shortly after rival Telkomsel
“We are also coming to Sumatra very soon,” Bayu Hanantasena, Indosat Ooredoo’s chief business officer, told a press conference following the launch event on Thursday. He added that the company’s 5G rollout targeted cities with a high demand for industrial internet of things (IoT) solutions.
Earlier, the company announced a plan to phase out its 3G network to allocate more bandwidth to its 4G and 5G services in an evolving market.
The company cut the number of its 3G base transceiver stations (BTSs) more than 22 percent annually to 35,000 units in the first half of 2021, while it increased the number of its 4G BTSs more than 30 percent to 69,000 units in the same period.
