Loon Project must not drain operator`s energy

Ilustrasi (dok)

JAKARTA (IndoTelko) - Project Loon's technical trials plan in providing internet access via balloon in the first quarter of this year are advised not involve many operators.

"No need to sacrifice the three network operators to Project Loon. One operator is enough, "advised MASTEL Institute Chairman Nonot Harsono to IndoTelko, yesterday.

Nonot said that ideally, the technical trials must not involve operators who have numerous BTS.

"It would be weird if an operator is forced to shut its BTS for the sake of Loon balloon. It would be even weirder if it is for commercial, it would be a downgrade from BTS to balloon BTS," he said.

MASTEL Head of Public Relations Teguh Prasetya suggested the government to set up a security audit for the Google's balloon in order to anticipate the commercialization as the next stage from the technical test.

"If entering the commercial stage then there should be a clear regulation. The local content must also addressed, because the network given is 4G," he said.

Since October 2015, Google has been holding Telkomsel, Indosat, and XL to hold a technical trial of Project Loon in eastern Indonesia.

Later, the technical trial will involve a considerable amount of balloons and lasts a full year starting the beginning of 2016. There are five points that will be the trial location, such as on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and East Papua.

Google balloon will be flying and moving around Indonesia over a height of 20 kilometers by 40 kilometers radius beam.

The access granted is the 4G LTE by utilizing the 900 MHz frequency.  The balloon expected to fly for 150 days on air, and Indonesia would need about 6,000 balloons to serve remote islands.

Three operators are reportedly still has a commitment to carry out a technical examination and conducting internal discussions to hold the event. (es)