Marines stationed at Nipah Island in the Riau Islands province will finally be able to contact their loved ones with ease afterstate telecommunication firm PT Telkom launched a cellular phone network at the remote location Wednesday.
Telkom's Flexi CDMA network is replacing existing coverage, provided by Malaysian and Singaporean telco firms, which was significantly more expensive.
Batam Vice Mayor Ria Saptarika welcomed the introduction of the telecommunication network on Nipah Island, which falls under the Batam city administration.
"This is a real effort to protect and reclaim Nipah Island," she said.
"Our telecommunication network should remain protected from foreign companies."
Nipah Island has seen significant dredging in past years for its sand, which was sent to Singapore to help with redevelopment. In a move to help reclaim the former glory of Nipah, the island was restored through a seven-stage process in 2004 from an area just two hectares in size to 60 hectares.
PT Telkom executive general manager for the Sumatra regional division, Muhammad Awaluddin, said the Flexi CDMA network on Nipah Island was part of its commitment to build telecommunication infrastructure in outlying areas.
Currently three remote islands around Sumatra have been connected to the Telkom network, including Rondo Island, just north of Weh Island in Aceh, and Berhala Island in the Malacca Straits.
The requirement for such infrastructure on Sekatung Island in the South China Sea is still being evaluated, as there are no marines stationed there.
The telecommunication network is prioritizing the development of communication technologies in remote areas occupied by Indonesian Navy personnel guarding the nations borders.
"We have to provide telecommunication networks to the outlying islands," said Awaluddin.
"This is part of our corporate social responsibility. These projects are being financed outside our normal business calculations."
Awaluddin said there were currently 12 islands in Indonesia on which PT Telkom is planning on developing telecommunication infrastructure. The facilities will not only include voice communications but also data and video services.
These particular islands determine Indonesia's borders with neighboring countries. According to Presidential Regulation No. 78/2005 on the Management of Outlying and Remote Islands, there is a total of 92 outlying islands across Indonesia's border areas.
First Pvt. Deny A, from the Indonesian Marines, said before the introduction of the Telkom network, troops were able to use their handphones but had to source out network coverage manually.
"Sometimes we had to climb our radio tower to get networkcoverage from Indonesian telco providers such as Indosat or Telkomsel, but Singapore's SingTel and Malaysia's Maxis had strong coverage."
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