Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Hot Backup Satellite (HBS) project which was officially stopped was definitely not because of Starlink. This was confirmed by the Director General of IKP of the Ministry of Communication and Information, Usman Kansong.
“No, it’s not like that, that’s only recently. First, it’s actually because the budget is large, while we ourselves still have to prepare a budget for Satria-1,” said Usman when met in Jakarta, Monday (23/10/2023).
For information, the HBS Satellite is prepared to be a backup for Satria-1 if an anomaly occurs. This project has a budget of IDR 5.2 trillion.
Satria-1, which launched on June 18 2023, will reach orbit at the end of the year and become operational in early 2024. When it reaches orbit, Usman said it would need another budget, such as for maintenance.
Usman explained that the termination of the project was based on a study by the Bakti Kominfo Task Force. Starting from the budget and also what the future will look like.
Previously in an official statement, Bakti explained that the termination of the HBS project was carried out after the launch of Satria-1 was deemed successful. The contract has also been terminated on October 19, 2023.
Next, the budget will be allocated for priority expansion and improvement of national digital access and connectivity. That way, Bakti can take advantage of the institution’s financial limitations to complete a number of its targets.
Chairman of the Bakti Kominfo Task Force, Sarwoto Atmosutarno, explained that the operation of Satria-1 is the current focus. Including optimizing its utilization regarding space and ground segment capacity.
“One thing that must also be taken into consideration is that we must focus on SATRIA 1 which will consume a lot of energy and cannot fail in its implementation. The SATRIA-1 satellite will be operational in early 2024 so we will be very busy with how to utilize it optimally,” “both for space segment and ground segment capacity. Don’t let us lose focus,” explained Sarwoto.
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Originally posted 2023-10-23 08:30:00.