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Good practice Imported

Palapa Ring — Indonesia's National Fibre-Optic Backbone Across the Archipelago

Indonesia · Jakarta · See the Indonesia profile · See the Jakarta profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 24% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A $1.5bn, 56,000km fibre-optic backbone stretching from Sabang to Merauke, built to connect over 500 Indonesian regencies — including previously unserved Papua and eastern islands — to 4G-capable internet.

1.5 US$ billion
Total project cost (2015-2019)
56,000 km
Total backbone length (2015-2019)
35,000 km
Submarine cable length (2015-2019)
21,000 km
Terrestrial cable length (2015-2019)
500+ regencies (kabupaten/kota)
Regencies connected (on completion, Oct 2019)
up to 100 Gbps
Network capacity (on completion)
6,878 km
East package submarine link length (completed Oct 2019)
Palapa Ring — Indonesia's National Fibre-Optic Backbone Across the Archipelago

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika (Kominfo) / BAKTI, with consortium operators PT Palapa Ring Barat and PT Palapa Timur Telematika
Period
2015–2019 (West & Central packages completed 2018–2019; East package completed October 2019)
Keywords
telecommunications infrastructure, digital connectivity, public-private partnership

Context

Indonesia faced a stark connectivity divide between its developed western islands and remote eastern archipelago. Palapa Ring was structured as a public-private partnership under Kominfo/BAKTI, using an availability-payment model backed by the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund.

Objectives

The project aimed to build a national fibre-optic backbone connecting previously unserved regencies, including Papua and the eastern islands, to fibre-fed 4G-capable connectivity.

Activities

Built in West, Central and East packages by separate consortia (including PT Palapa Ring Barat and PT Palapa Timur Telematika), the backbone comprises roughly 35,000km of submarine and 21,000km of terrestrial cable running from Sabang to Merauke, with the 6,878km East submarine link the last and most difficult segment.

Results

The completed backbone (~US$1.5bn, up to 100 Gbps capacity) gave more than 500 regencies fibre-fed 4G-capable access; the East package was completed in October 2019, several years behind schedule, and formally launched by President Joko Widodo.

Conclusions

Independent reporting notes the backbone still required last-mile investment by mobile operators to translate access into actual connections, and that the eastern segment's delays reflect the cost and difficulty of building infrastructure across Indonesia's mountainous, scattered geography -- a caution for other archipelagic nations relying on a single-backbone strategy.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M) — Approximately US$1.5 billion total project cost, financed via an availability-payment PPP model backed by the USO fund.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Built 2015-2019; West and Central packages completed 2018-2019, East package (hardest segment) completed October 2019, several years behind original schedule.
Staffing & skills
Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika (Kominfo) / BAKTI agency coordination, PT Palapa Ring Barat and PT Palapa Timur Telematika (consortium operators, build and operate segments), Mobile/telecom operators undertaking last-mile investment on top of the backbone

Conditions for success

  • Public-private partnership structured around an availability-payment model
  • Financing backed by the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund
  • Coordination across separate West/Central/East package consortia under central government oversight
  • Follow-on last-mile investment by mobile operators to convert backbone access into household/business connectivity

Common failure modes

  • East package (hardest, most remote segment) was completed several years behind original schedule due to geographic difficulty
  • Backbone access alone did not guarantee end-user connectivity; last-mile investment by operators was still required

Where it fits

Governance type
national government with public-private partnership consortium
Scale
national (archipelago-wide)
Income level
upper-middle-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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