Tag Archives: PT Bakrie Telecom Tbk

Licenses have been granted to consortium members for building the Palapa Ring–backbone that will connect the Eastern part of Indonesia that currently relies on satellites with the rest of the country. It is not clear how the licenses were granted and what are the fees and obligations of the license holders. Furthermore, technical and financial feasibility studies are yet to be completed. No access regimes have been developed that will govern how non-consortium members will be able to access the Palapa Ring and on what terms. There couldn’t be a worse possible way of launching such a complex, capital-intensive project that is supposed to transform the ICT infrastructure of Indonesia.

President SB Yudhoyono’s government came to power on the promise of eradicating corruption and the “deal culture” that has plagued Indonesia throughout much of its existence. Initially the government promised leased-cost subsidy auction and other open transparent methods for rolling out backbone infrastructure in the country. Now a sudden announcement in the media informs us that licenses for the Palapa Ring project have been granted.

The Palapa Ring has been a “dream” project of the Indonesian government even before the financial crisis of 1997. Before the crisis it was planning on ..read more