Indonesian telecommunications tower company Mitratel (Dayamitra Telekomunikasi) pledged to put US$69.5 million into constructing new towers in remote locations across Indonesia.
The Jakarta Globe reported, the tower company is targeting builds in the country’s frontier and outermost areas, as Mitratel looks to take part in a government drive to connect the population to broadband connectivity.
Dayamitra Telekomunikasi investment director Hendra Purnama said the money will be spent over the next four years, and it will be outside the company’s annual CAPEX, which was IDR9.9 trillion (US$688m) last year. The funds will come from the initial public offering the firm conducted in November 2021.
The Indonesian government is aiming to accelerate the country’s digital economy and sees widespread broadband access as a key pillar for this. It urged telecommunication companies to invest in infrastructure in remote locations for this ambition, but the lack of huge commercial returns make this unattractive.
The government had launched a cooperation scheme with telcos to build towers in frontier regions through its telco arm the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (Bakti). Between 2021 and 2022, Bakti is aiming to build 7,904 towers out of 9,113.
