BAKTI is not afraid to build 4G BTS in the Bintang Mountains

The Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) of the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) continues to build a 4G Base Tranceiver Station (BTS) tower in the Bintang Mountains area despite the difficult terrain.

President Director of BAKTI Kominfo Anang Latif said the construction of a 4G BTS tower in the Bintang Mountains which is included in the outermost, underdeveloped, and leading (3T) areas is important to be completed so that the people there can enjoy adequate telecommunication access.

"Our brothers and sisters in Papua, in the Bintang Mountains also need to get a signal like we already got on the island of Java," Anang told reporters some time ago.

Anang explained that the construction of a 4G BTS tower in the Bintang Mountains was not easy. The district with the capital city of Oksibil has a unique geographical condition where most of its territory is mountainous.

Its inhabitants live in districts located on steep mountain slopes and small valleys, scattered and isolated. To reach it, can only use air transportation.

Anang said, given these geographical conditions, the delivery of materials to the construction site of the 4G BTS tower in the Bintang Mountains was a serious challenge that had to be faced.

"Geographical conditions are still a challenge. Some locations have to use helicopters. The cost is quite expensive when this logistics is sent," said Anang.

ANTARA had the opportunity to directly observe the process of distributing materials for the construction of 4G BTS towers in a number of districts in the Bintang Mountains carried out by BAKTI Kominfo through PT Infrastruktur Bisnis Sejahtera (IBS).

PT IBS together with ZTE are the winners of the Package 4 and Package 5 work tenders for the procurement of 4G BTS towers in the 3T area, where the Bintang Mountains are included in the package.

To build a 4G BTS tower site, PT IBS must bring around 90 types of components, divided into tower, power, VSAT, and BTS. The material was loaded from their warehouse in Jayapura, Papua.

From Jayapura, the material with a total weight of up to 10 tons was brought to Senggeh, Keerom Regency using a land route for about six hours. From Senggeh, the material is then transported by air to the construction site in the Bintang Mountains.

Materials with a maximum length dimension of 3.5 meters are transported using a caravan type aircraft. Meanwhile, materials with shorter dimensions can be loaded using pilatus type planes.
 
Workers load materials for the construction of a 4G BTS tower into a Caravan-type aircraft at Senggeh Airport, Keerom, Papua, Thursday (21/4/2022) (ANTARA/Fathur Rochman)
 
As for materials with wide dimensions, such as fences or antennas, they must be transported by helicopter externally using a sling.

The process of sending material via air is very dependent on weather conditions. If the weather is bad, the delivery process must be postponed for a while.

"The problem is the weather. If the weather is bad, delivery cannot be done," said Meita Dwivernia, Head of Supply Chain Management at IBS.

Delivery of materials from Senggeh to the Bintang Mountains takes about 20-45 minutes depending on the distance to the destination.

Pilots of planes or helicopters are required to focus and be careful because the terrain traversed is between hills and mountain cliffs.

Upon arrival at the site, the material is immediately placed around the construction area. There, there were already workers waiting. Some workers are empowered from the local community.
 
This is done to create a sense of belonging to the building, so that people can keep the building so that it can be used for a long time.

The BTS 4G tower is built on an area of 20x20 meters. The land generally comes from community grants, then it is used with a land-use loan system.

The construction site is required to be near a residential area so that the telecommunication signal can be received by residents optimally.
 
Meita said that when the materials arrived at the location, the construction of the 4G BTS tower would be easier. The development process from starting to build the tower to "on" or air takes about two to three weeks.

Despite facing difficult terrain, PT IBS is committed to boosting the process of building a 4G BTS tower in the Bintang Mountains so that the targets that have been set can be completed.

A total of 196 4G BTS towers are planned to be built in the Bintang Mountains in 2022. The total proposed construction of telecommunication towers in the district is 261 points.

Of the planned construction of 4G BTS at 196 points, 44 of them are currently under construction.

Currently, there are already 10 4G BTS towers on the air in the district with the slogan Terib Tibo Semo Nirya (Let's Rise to Build Together).
 
One of them is in the Bime district. Secretary of the Bime District, Nerius Wisal admitted that he was very grateful for the existence of the 4G BTS tower that was already on the air.

Now, the community, especially the younger generation, can enjoy internet access and telecommunications access better.

"So now these smart young people can make calls using WhatsApp," he said happily.

However, Nerius does not deny that there are still many residents of the Bime District, especially the old people who are technology savvy.

For this reason, it is important to provide comprehensive education to the people in the 3T area about the use of internet access so that the telecommunication tower facilities that have been built by the government can be utilized optimally by the community.

SOURCE : https://papua.antaranews.com/berita/683873/bakti-tak-gentar-menbangun-bts-4g-di-pegunungan-star