As part of an effort to significantly improve connectivity in Indonesia, the Telecom Infra Project, the GSMA, the Indonesian government, Telkom University, cellular network operators and OEM/ODM/SI partners are pleased to announce the official launch of the TIP Community Lab as well as the Centre of Excellence at Telkom University.
This collaboration will seek to advance digital and economic growth in Indonesia in support of the government’s ‘Making Indonesia 4.0’ program. It will seek to do this through testing and validating TIP’s open, interoperable, disaggregated and standards-based network technologies in the lab and in the field, advancing the implementation of commercially viable solutions, building local talent pools, and fostering a strong and diverse local telecommunications ecosystem, including the start-up economy.
The purpose of the TIP Community Lab at Telkom University is to:
- Evaluate and validate solutions developed by the TIP community to be adopted and disseminated by all connectivity stakeholders in in Indonesia.
- Accelerate the transition from lab to field trials, to enable cellular operators and the broader ecosystem to realize the social and commercial benefits of implementing end-to-end TIP-led solutions, whether from rural, suburban or densely populated urban areas.
- Provide training to support local System Integrators and Service Providers, helping them capture the benefits from open, disaggregated network technologies to better serve the ecosystem. Furthermore, it will provide workshops, hackathons, and boot camps to introduce new technologies and methodologies, so that ecosystem members are informed about the latest developments and ideas, as well as lessons learned from other ecosystems.
Speaking at the inauguration event, the Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information, Johnny G Plate, conveyed how this collaboration between the government, the telecommunications industry, and universities, through the TIP Community Lab at Telkom University, will help accelerate digitalization equity and improve connectivity:
“As its first of its kind in South East Asia, the TIP Community Lab in Indonesia, hopefully will accelerate connectivity between Indonesia and the world. It will also serve as a medium for synergy between stakeholders, including the government, industries, universities, and the digital community. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of connectivity in our communities and economies. With demands continuing to rise, operators and other community stakeholder urgently need more efficient ways to expand and upgrade their networks. The establishment of this Community Lab will complete other pillar programs that will be executed in Indonesia, such as research & development, testing and deployment, building up awareness, creating new talent by way of training programs, and support the new local start-ups in the field of open and disaggregated technology. TIP is accelerating the deployment of open and disaggregated solutions for comprehensive network products across the world. These standards based solutions will also be available to operators in Indonesia which will promise a boost in the country’s digital economy.”
The launch event featured a webinar titled ‘OpenRAN for ICT Business in South East Asia’, and included 17 speakers from a range of companies and organizations involved in the project. Participants include the Director General of Resources & Equipment of Post & Information Technology, the GSMA, Telecom Infra Project, six mobile network operators (Telkomsel, Indosat Ooredoo, XL Axiata, Smartfren, Hutchison 3 Indonesia, and Net-1 Indonesia), seven OEM/SI companies (Amdocs, Parallel Wireless, Mavenir, Altiostar, Baicells, Comba and IBM) and Facebook.
A number of these companies are already supporting the TIP Community Lab’s activities, including:
- Altiostar – As one of the leading Open RAN solution providers, Altiostar will participate in technology development and implementation activities within the TIP Community Lab, while continuing to conduct a number of Open RAN trials and proofs of concept with operators in South East Asia.
- Amdocs has been involved since the beginning of TIP and committed to continuing to collaborate with TIP and Tel-U Community Lab on programs related to testing open network technology.
- Baicells Technologies as a provider of open network technology devices, Baicells is participating and collaborating in testing activities carried out by the TIP Community Lab. Baicells also made several other contributions by donating end-to-end 5G OpenRAN devices to the TIP Community Lab, providing technology training, and also planning to develop a local device assembly plant in Indonesia.
- Comba also plans to explore local manufacturing options or to set up a local intelligence center for professional services and maintenance to support the “Making Indonesia 4.0” program.
- IBM will collaborate with TIP Community Lab on testing activities as well as providing technical training and a platform for technology orchestration
- As one of the OpenRAN solution providers, Mavenir will participate in technology development and implementation activities with the TIP Community Lab.
- Parallel Wireless is committed to continuing to collaborate with TIP Community Lab as a provider of open network technology solutions and is currently involved in lab and field trial activities with several cellular operators in Indonesia including, Telkomsel, Indosat Ooredoo, XL Axiata and Smartfren. Parallel Wireless will also provide support by providing training programs to build local ecosystems in Indonesia.