4G mobile internet technology is still very limited in Indonesia and even remains spotty in parts of the capital (heck, even 3G is still spotty in places). But that hasn’t stopped the government from teasing us about the possibility that we may soon get ultra high speed 5G connections.
Telecommunications firm Ericsson (remember them, from the 2G days?) yesterday carried out a demonstration of 5G technology in Indonesia with IT Minister Rudiantara in attendance. During the demo, Kompas reported that download speeds peaked at 5.3 GB/s, which is faster than most connections in Indonesia at the moment but, of course, highly hypothetical.
Thomas Jul, president director of Ericsson Indonesia and Timor Leste, said 5G technology was needed to support media consumption in the future, which requiring greater and greater bandwidth.
“Customers can enjoy new features like augmented reality and 4K video streaming,” he said, as quoted by Kompas.
Ericsson has targeted 2020 as a possible launch date for 5G in Indonesia, along with the rest of the world. However, 40 telcos and cellphone manufacturers from around the world last month agreed to speed up testing so that 5G could be implemented as early as 2019.
Indonesia seems to be looking to leave the past behind too. Telkomsel and Tri, two of the country’s largest telcos, previously announced they would shut down their 2G networks by 2021 and 2020 respectively.
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