Zoom: Management of Technology Laboratory (MoTLab) SBM ITB held a webinar on Wednesday (29/9/2021) with the theme “Framework for the Development and Application of 5G Technology in Indonesia”. The event, attended by hundreds of participants, was opened by the Deputy Dean for SBM academics, Prof. Aurik Gustomo. Dr. Eko Agus Prasetio, Head of MoTLab SBM-ITB, said that this webinar aimed to disseminate the dissertation research of Sahat Hutajulu under supervision by Prof. Wawan Dhewanto and Dr. Eko Agus Prasetio.
The event started with a keynote speech from the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Communication and Information of the Republic of Indonesia, Mira Tayyiba, ST., MSEE. He gave a presentation related to global 5G adoption and development statistics, the advantages of 5G, and the potential contributions, applications, and policies of 5G in Indonesia. The event then continued with presentations from three speakers: Dr. Eko Agus Prasetio, a lecturer at SBM-ITB and the Head of MoTLab SBM-ITB; Dr. Sahat Hutajulu, who is a graduate of DSM SBM-ITB, and Ir. Arief Mustin, MBA. who is Director & Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer of Indosat Oredoo. SBM-ITB lecturer Dedy Sushandoyo, Ph.D., moderated this event.
5G Opportunities in Indonesia
In her speech, Mira Tayyiba said that based on the LAPI ITB study in 2020, the potential for deploying 5G in terms of assets in Indonesia contributed more than IDR 2800 trillion or equivalent to 9.5% of the total national GDP in 2030 and will grow equal to IDR 3500 trillion or 9 % of GDP in 2035. With this contribution, the 5G network in Indonesia, she said, is still in the simultaneous use stage, namely complementing each other with the 4G network because the Government is still trying to spread 4G to 3T areas (4G for all). Until now, Kominfo has launched commercial operations of 5G networks in 9 regions in Indonesia since May 2021. On the regulatory side, the Government is currently establishing various regulations such as the Job Creation Law (UU No. 11 of 2020) with its derivative regulations and PP Postelsiar (Pos, telecommunications, and Broadcasting) or PP No. 46 of 2021. In addition, Kominfo and Commission 1 of the DPR-RI discuss drafting the Personal Data Protection Law (PDP).
Development Framework
The first speaker, Dr. Eko Agus Prasetio, said that the framework for developing 5G technology in Indonesia is based on the need to transfer 5G technology to Indonesia. It is further noted that the development of 5G requires an innovation ecosystem it. This 5G ecosystem involves far more players than 4G. Various technologies such as autonomous vehicles, agriculture 2.0, industry 4.0, remote surgery in the healthcare industry, which previously could not be done in 4G technology, make it possible to do in 5G technology. Even though the 5G opportunity is enormous, Indonesia faces various challenges such as high investment, disintegration with local governments, and limited creation, innovation, and development.
The second speaker, Dr. Sahat Hutajulu, conveyed the results of his research regarding how Indonesia could successfully develop this 5G technology. According to him, there are three phases of the 5G development strategy in Indonesia. The initial phase (investment & learning phase) will be more in the eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) area. The second phase (work & reward phase) only focuses on mMTC (massive machine-type communications). Meanwhile, the last stage is reaping the benefits phase, namely by focusing more on URLLC (ultra-reliable and low latency communications).
Sahat proposed a framework related to developing this 5G technology which consists of the Initiation stage, internalization stage, and generation/diffusion stage. The initiation stage is a 5G technology transfer from abroad. Then the first thing to do is to develop a scenario (scenarios development): the current strategy and the desired design in dealing with 5G (key drivers, trends, and uncertainties).
Then the internalization stage. From here, we deal with two things, namely tech commercialization and stakeholder collaboration in terms of infrastructure and indigenous co-creation ecosystem. Infrastructure is more emphasized on stakeholder’s collaboration because it seems more important. There are essential elements: government incentives, local government participation, MNO sharing, co-development, & co-innovation. In addition, it also emphasizes the commercialization of technology through indigenous co-creation ecosystems that build use cases & applications, complementary technology, innovation ecosystem, and market competition.
The last stage is the generation/diffusion stage. Here the term diffusion performance is used. Simulations are also made in this research to illustrate how collaboration and commercialization of this technology affect diffusion performance. This diffusion performance indicator consists of the number of adopters (2 types of adopters being run: end-users in the form of people & industry), diffusion time, and total revenue/GDP.
Finally, Sahat revealed that the actions that can be taken are to have 5G labs, smart campuses, 5G innovation awards to answer social issues, diffusion performance dashboards, and regular events.
5G that Support Startups and SMEs
Arief Mustain from Indosat Ooredoo discussed digital value creation by emphasizing the cellular industry during the pandemic and its challenges and the challenges and future strategies of the Telco industry, and the issue of 5G deployment. He said that digital value creation combines a digital infrastructure foundation, talent readiness, policy, regulation, and investment. On the infrastructure side, the urban market is oversupplied while the rural market has no supply even though competition requires infrastructure.
He added that the Telco industry is faced with challenges, including investment. He said that there is no 5G without fiber. If there is no fiber, the traffic will be squeezed. Now it is still a challenge for fiber regulations; many local governments still create rules that do not support it. In addition, the Telco industry is also being challenged to reinvent itself.
Before the event closed, Prof. Wawan Dhewanto gave a closing remark. In his speech, he said that 5G technology is expected to support the business ecosystem in Indonesia, especially MSMEs for go-digital and startups. MSMEs will be able to apply a hybrid model by combining offline and online, and the existence of 5G will be able to make it grow, not only during the pandemic but also after the pandemic. “5G can support the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Indonesia. Like only the application in the world of healthcare, transportation, it also accelerates MSME connections to go digital,” he said.
Reported by: Lely Trianti and Uruqul Nadhif