Indonesia: Foreign Satellite Services Must Meet Interference-Free Requirement

Text of report in English by Indonesian news agency Antara website on 21 February

The government, in this case the Ministry of Communications and Information, reminded telecommunications operators using foreign satellite services, which have yet to meet the interference-free requirement, to meet the requirements to obtain a landing right and radio station licence for the proper use of radio frequencies.

“The deadline for this settlement has been set at 5 June 2007, and failure to meet the requirements would be subjected to a sanction,” spokesman for Post and Telecommunications Directorate General Gatot S. Dewa Broto said here on Sunday [18 February].

He said that foreign satellite operators which have yet to meet the requirements are IPSTAR-1 slot orbit 119.5E (Thailand), JCSAT- 2A slot orbit 154E (Japan), JCSAT 1B slot orbit 150E (Japan) and THAICOM 1A slot orbit 120E (Thailand).

Meanwhile 24 other foreign satellite operators had been declared interference-free as they have settled their satellite coordination, or did not cause harmful interference to Indonesian satellites or licenced radio stations.

“Telecommunications operators using foreign satellites which are not interference-free are urged to work together with other satellite operators, because one of the requirements said that a landing right could be granted on the basis of a coordinated agreement, namely the settlement of an interference,” Gatot said.

Gatot, the post and telecommunications director general, has sent a note to ten foreign satellite authorities calling on them to meet their obligation, namely to settle their satellite coordination with Indonesian satellite operators, prove the absence of interference with Indonesian satellites and other radio frequency stations in Indonesia.

The authorities include the Malaysian Commission of Multimedia and Communications, Deputy Director General at Radio-Regulatory Department, Ministry of Information Industry, China, and the Federal Communications Commission’s International Bureau of the United States.

They are also called on to prove that there is a guarantee of equal opportunity for Indonesian satellites to operate in some other countries whose filling satellites had been officially registered at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Gatot also explained that the post and telecommunications director general had also sent a written reminder to 68 foreign satellite operators although they are also using local satellites such as PT Telkom, PT MCI, PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, ITB, Universitas Syiah Kuala, PT Direct Vision, PT Perkebunan XIII, and PT Patra Telekomunikasi Indonesia.

In the meantime, the domestic satellite users which had been told to settle their ISR without a landing right include PT. Garuda Indonesia (with its domestic satellite Telkom-1), PT. Pelni (Telkom- 1), TransTV (Telkom-1), TPI (Palapa-C2), Global TV (Palapa-C2), RRI (Telkom-1, and RCTI (Palapa-C2).

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