Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Kemkomdigi) has reportedly announced that it will kick off its auction for 80 MHz of spectrum in the 1.4 GHz band (1432–1512 MHz) on October 13.
According to the government’s Antara news agency on Wednesday, three operators are in the running for the spectrum – Telkom Indonesia, MyRepublic and Telemedia Komunikasi Pratama (a.k.a. Viberlink) – out of a field of seven punters who submitted applications for the auction in August.
Telkom Indonesia, MyRepublic and Viberlink will begin the price-bidding stage of the auction on October 13 via the e-Auction system, the report said.
The auction is made possible by Ministerial Decree No. 337 issued earlier this year that allocated 80 MHz of spectrum in the 1.4 GHz band across three regions for broadband wireless access services.
In the telecoms space, 1.4 GHz spectrum has been allocated in other markets to provide extra downlink capacity for 4G and 5G networks.
Wayan Toni Supriyanto, director general of digital infrastructure at Kemkomdigi, told Antara that the spectrum auction “not only opens opportunities for network providers to increase service capacity and coverage, but also broadens affordable internet access options for the public.”
