Giga City, a Runway to Accelerate the Smart City Development

Giga City (dok)

JAKARTA (IndoTelko) - Various studies and research have been emphasizing the important role of digital transformation in the many aspects of a nation's life, ranging from government and bureaucracy to socio-cultural, to economic aspects. Digital transformation in Indonesia has entered a new era as Huawei supports the government of Surakarta (Kota Solo) in rolling out a Giga City connectivity technology pilot model to deliver digital experiences as a reference for future ICT infrastructures.

The designation of Surakarta (also known as Kota Solo) as Indonesia's inaugural Giga City involved the formalization of agreements through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). These pivotal agreements were signed on Tuesday, (22/8), at Solo Technopark, marking a significant milestone in the collaboration between Huawei and the Surakarta government that symbolizes the convergence of technological expertise and government support, heralding a new era of development and progress of a future city.

As we envision the smart world of 2030, we picture a scenario where a city can provide home broadband reaching Gigabit connectivity speeds to its residents. These enhanced networks will have the capacity to provide multiple Gigabit connections for households, micro-sized to large businesses, all while necessitating advanced systems for intelligent operations and management in a Giga City.

Giga City serves as a pivotal bridge that every city aspiring to evolve into a smart city must traverse. Without the backbone of cutting-edge digital infrastructure, the journey of digital transformation will proceed at a slow pace, yielding suboptimal outcomes.

What are the concrete benefits of Giga City for society? To address this question, one can examine it from two main perspectives.

The first one is the improvement of the quality of public services. With the presence of Gigabit’s high-speed internet access, administrative procedures can operate more efficiently and effectively. For instance, speedy access combined with cloud-based solutions can streamline the decision-making or licensing procedures within the realm of bureaucratic authority.

The second one is the support for the digital economy ecosystem. The World Bank study states that 80% of MSMEs engaged in the digital ecosystem exhibited better resilience during the pandemic. Digital transformation of Indonesian MSMEs is a necessity in the era of digital disruption at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the potential for demographic bonuses.

Indonesia can become the ASEAN region’s digital economy powerhouse. According to data from the e-Conomy SEA 2021 Report, this sector is anticipated to reach approximately USD 315 billion, equivalent to roughly IDR 4,698 trillion. This amount constitutes about 42% of ASEAN's projected digital economy in 2030, a significant share that will benefit the overall economy in Indonesia.

Furthermore, micro and small enterprises will seek connectivity solutions capable of delivering ample bandwidth, top-notch user experiences, and comprehensive intranet services. Indonesia’s goal is to integrate 30 million MSMEs into the digital ecosystem by 2024. According to the information from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, as of August 2023, approximately 22.81 million MSME participants have already joined online platforms. By offering faster and more secure infrastructure and network speeds, Giga City can speed up the integration of MSMEs into Indonesia’s digital ecosystem.

In parallel, we will witness a growing number of enterprises embracing a multi-cloud approach, driving networks to dynamically adjust their routing paths. Fuelled by a commitment to environmentally friendly practices and automation, we will also witness substantial growth in network capacity, energy efficiency, and operational and maintenance efficiency in a future Giga City concept.

The urge for collaboration between stakeholders

As we shift away from an era characterized by megabits to one where gigabit connectivity reigns supreme, governments and regulatory bodies worldwide will have to establish and adopt more robust policies.

This entails formulating national broadband strategies, deployment guidelines, and construction norms to accelerate the expansion of gigabit networks. Ensuring widespread access to gigabit connectivity across every corner of a Giga City will thus emerge as an essential objective.

This seamless and organized cooperation is achieved within the framework of realizing Golden Indonesia by 2045, which aims to establish welfare and opportunities accessible to every Indonesian citizen. (ad)