ISPs logging in for hotspot integration

Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In order to increase user accessibility, Indonesian Internet service providers are embarking on a project to integrate Wi-Fi hotspot networks throughout the country later this year.

Since their first commercial introduction in Indonesia, Wi-Fi hotspots, or wireless Internet connection areas, have been operated by different providers, depending on location, which leads to users having to become members of more than one network or purchase vouchers from more than one provider if they want to increase accessibility and mobility.

"The plan is to enhance user accessibility so that users are not confined to a particular cafe or place with only one designated provider connection," Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) chairwoman Sylvia W. Sumarlin told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Sylvia said that nine major providers grouped under APJII were involved in paving the way for integration. They were Indosat M2, CBN, D-Net, Ipnet, Centrin, Pacific Internet, Info Asia, Ezy Net and Melsa Net.

"Currently, we are still calculating what the full cost of bringing about integration will be," she explained.

Sylvia said that with the integration of the nine hotspot networks -- with the integrated network to be called ID-Hotspot -- a total of about 500,000 customers and around 700 hotspots throughout the country would benefit.

For integration to have maximum effect, it would require wireless broadband access that would provide connections between provinces and islands across the archipelago -- such as those offered by WiMAX technology.

WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a long-range system that uses a licensed spectrum to deliver a point-to-point connection from an internet service provider to an end user using a wireless broadband connection.

The government has allocated Rp 15 billion (about US$1.6 million) to fund a study by the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) into the development of WiMAX technology for various public uses as part of the government's broadband wireless access (BWA) program.

Following the study, the government will hold tenders for the six available blocks of designated WiMAX frequencies, with each block covering the services provided by three to six operators.

"The problem is, the government has been somewhat ambiguous about when it will hold the tender," Sylvia said.

"The success of the integration project really depends on the support of the government. After all, they won't lose a penny as it is the providers who will be footing the bill.

"But, we'll try not be too dependent on the state. The integration project should be able to be proceed with or without WiMAX," she stressed.

Some analysts suspect the government's reticence is due to a desire to protect wireless broadband providers that use GSM third generation technology (3G), which has been the subject of massive investment since its introduction to the Indonesian market last year.

However, Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications spokesperson Gatot S. Dewa Broto told the Post that the allegations were groundless.

Gatot said that the holding of the tenders had to await the results of studies, including market studies, on WiMAX technology by both the government and third-level institutes.

"I don't think WiMAX and 3G will be going head to head. They each have their own characteristics," he said.