Govt targets Internet coverage on all islands by 2012

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 11/11/2011

The Communications and Information Technology Ministry is targeting to connect all islands in Indonesia to the Internet by 2012, according to an official.

A ministry’s expert staffer, Suprawoto, said on Friday that the ministry also planned that all islands would have broadband networks by 2016.

He said that the plans were a “follow up” to the Indonesia Informatif (Informative Indonesia) program, which has been a vision of the ministry.

“Indonesia Informatif is our effort to bring Indonesian people closer to information,” he said in a forum in Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, Antara news agency reported.

He added that the ministry hoped Indonesians would use the Internet for education and community empowerment purposes.

“People are uneducated or poor not because of their financial situation but because of a lack of information,” he said.

Suprawoto said the ministry had developed the Desa Berdering (Villages Rings) program this year, building infrastructure in 5,874 districts that gave villages access to telephones, the radio and the Internet.

“We are building the optical fiber networks on the remaining islands. It has now reached Papua,” he added.

Telkom launches Mojopia as platform for web services

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 11/06/2009 2:36 PM

Indonesia's largest telecommunication company, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), launched on Thursday a web portal called Mojopia that would serve as a platform for online shopping, content and communication.

Mojopia aims to revolutionize the domestic e-commerce industry through providing various web applications that can be used for online transactions between customers and vendors.

The web portal will also serve as a content aggregator and communication platform for internet users. The web portal is currently under construction. The beta version is expected to be available by the end of the year under the address of www.mojopia.com.

"Telkom as an infrastructure provider and Mojopia as an e-commerce portal and content aggregator will open access to various types of communication that can be used by anyone, wherever and whenever," Telkom president director Rinaldi Firmansyah said.

Mojopia CEO Shinta Dhanuwardoyo said the web portal would ease the process of business transactions between customers and businesses, particularly those classified as small and medium enterprises.

""As the content industry and the e-commerce industry in Indonesia are growing, the launch of an integrated service provided by Mojopia and Telkom, would allow business players and Internet users to create an ecosystem that is based on trust and commitment," Shinta said.

Mojopia is operated by Telkom's subsidiary, PT Metranet, and part of the company's new approach.

Telkom's strategy to expand its operation in non core business is its latest move in efforts to maintain its position as the number one company in the industry despite a current downturn and an expected flattening out in the telecoms business.

Non core businesses include media operations, entertainment, software applications development and various Internet services.

The shift to non core businesses supporting telecommunication services is encapsulated in a new logo.

To support its new ambitions, the company is currently in the process of divesting several companies where Telkom was not the majority shareholder and to acquire firms in the core business areas, information and communication technology.

Rinaldi refused to disclose the names of the firms to be acquired, but said it had set aside a budget of Rp 1 trillion (US$106 million) for the acquisitions.

Provinces Asked to Develop E-Governance

Friday, 30 October, 2009 | 16:19 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Surakarta:Progress in technology requires the government to continue improving and adapting their governance systems. One of the efforts is to implement e-government. The Agency for the Assessment & Application of Technology’s (BPPT) information technology and communication center director, Tatang Taufik, said the agency is encouraging every province to develop an e-government system. “We are now initiating e-government in Surakarta, Pekalongan, Purwakarta, Bogor, Kendal, and Banyuwangi," he said, announcing the establishment of e-government in Surakarta yesterday.

According to Tatang, the use of digital technology will improve public services.

UKKY PRIMARTANTYO

E-commerce to finally get more protection

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is to allow more digital certification authorities to operate in Indonesia to protect Internet users from the growing threat of cybercrime, a senior official at the Information Ministry says.

Hafni Septiana, the head of the e-commerce section at the ministry, said Thursday that firms interested in acting as certification authorities (CAs) should apply for operating licenses from the certification authorities regulatory agency (BPCA), which would be established sometime next year.

She said that the setting up of the agency, which would be a 15-member panel comprising government officials, academics and IT experts, was now underway.

"We have completed the drafting of the technical regulations needed for the BPCA's operation," Hafni told The Jakarta Post.

The establishment of the agency was essential to ensuring that firms providing certification services not only met the set standards, but were also characterized by high levels of integrity.

She said that a number of companies were providing certification services at present, but only for internal purposes.

According to Hafni, the CAs would have the task of issuing digital certification and digital signatures to protect both website owners and users from Internet fraud.

Teddy Sukardi, chairman of the Information Technology and Internet Federation, said that the CAs would help users to differentiate between websites and e-transactions that were genuine and those that were bogus.

"A certification authority can help with tracing if a suspicious transaction occurs," Teddy said.

He said that to become a CA, an applicant would need to acquire a certificate from the Certification Authority Certification Board (LSCA) before applying for a license to the BPCA.

"A CA's operating permit will be valid for three years and can be renewed for another three. If a CA decides to close up shop, it should transfer its users to another CA," Teddy explained.

He said that the CAs, the BPCA and the LSCA were needed in Indonesia to safeguard electronic transactions, especially in the absence of a cyber law.

The government submitted a draft cyber law to the House of Representatives two years ago for approval. But, to date, the deliberation of the bill has not been completed.

"The regulations on the BPCA, the LSCA and the CAs will be in line with the cyber bill. So we can protect consumers while waiting for the House to endorse the bill," Hafni said. (tif)