VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Communication and Information said that the Satellite of the Republic of Indonesia (Satria), which is targeted to operate in 2023, will strengthen the transformation of the digital economy, including digitization of payment systems, especially in areas not yet reached by internet networks.

"The acceleration of digital transformation, directly and indirectly, supports the digital payment ecosystem during the pandemic and post-pandemic," Dedi Permadi, Special Staff to the Minister of Communication and Information said in a webinar in Jakarta, on Thursday.

He said this effort was carried out partly because of the great potential of digital economic growth, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which encourages humans to adapt more quickly to the digital ecosystem.

During the pandemic or only in April 2020, he said, the total number of purchase using the digital payment system reached 4.3 million, with total transactions reaching Rp. 17.6 trillion.

This potential is driving the acceleration of digital transformation which is also expected to support the performance of small and medium businesses since only around 14.8 percent or 9.4 million small and medium businesses are utilizing digital transactions and businesses.

Even so, he admitted that telecommunications technology infrastructure in Indonesia still needs to be boosted considering that there are still areas that are not covered by the fourth generation of the internet or 4G networks in the country.

"There are 479 thousand Base Transceiver Station across Indonesia, but that is not enough because Indonesia's area is so large," he said.

He detailed that out of 83,218 villages and sub-districts, there were 12,548 villages that had not been reached by adequate 4G signals, so that it became homework that needed to be completed until 2022.

Then, he continued, there were 150 thousand public service points where there were no adequate internet facilities such as health, banking, and government services.

"This is what we hope the completion of telecommunication infrastructure can be completed and we hope that Satria Satellite can operate in the third quarter of 2023," he added.

Dedi said that on Sep. 3, the cooperation between the ministry and US-based space company SpaceX will be signed on the deployment of the Satria Satellite. The satellite is planned to launch in 2023 with the Elon Musk's space transportation company as the manufacturer for the satellite shuttle. (Antaranews)