Indonesian 2300 MHz regulations

Indonesia is in the process of applying WiMAX in the 2300 MHz bands. The regulations were already published in 2009. In this blog, I want to write about the main regulations for implementing WiMAX in this band.

First of all, it is stated that the 2300 band starts from 2300 MHz - 2300 MHz. The frequency band is divided into 15 blocks seen below:

Block Number	Frequency (MHz)		Block Number	Frequency (MHz)		Block Number	Frequency (MHz)
1	2300-2305		6	2325-2330		11	2350-2355
2	2305-2310		7	2330-2335		12	2355-2360
3	2310-2315		8	2335-2340		13	2360-2375
4	2315-2320		9	2340-2345		14	2375-2390
5	2320-2325		10	2345-2350		15	2390-2400

Block number 1-12 has each a 5 MHz bandwidth, while 13 and 14 has 15 MHz bandwidth each. Currently band 13 and 14 are being used and is already owned by the winners of the 2,3 GHz license auction in July the 14th-16th 2009. Band 15 has 10 Mhz bandwidth and will be used for Universal Service Obligation.

Frequency spectrum licenses are owned by zones applied by the Communication and Information Department. They have defined that there are 15 zones in Indonesia, and these zones applies for the frequencies of 300 MHz, 1.5 GHz, 2 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 10.5 GHz. These zones are:

Zone	Region
1	Northern part of Sumatera
2	Central part of Sumatera
3	Southern part of Sumatera
4	Banten, Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi
5	West Java except Bogor, Depok, and Bekasi
6	Central Java
7	East Java
8	Bali and Nusa Tenggara
9	Papua
10	Maluku and North Maluku
11	Southern part of Sulawesi
12	Northern part of Sulawesi
13	Western part of Kalimantan
14	Eastern part of Kalimantan
15	Riau Islands

The license holders of these spectrums are able to use these spectrum for 10 years and can be renewed only once for another 10 years. However, they need to pay for these license which consists of an upfront fee and annual fee (called BHP). These license holders needs to apply an open access line, which means that if someone wants to use the 2300 GHz band with the same technology these license holders are obliged to rent these lines by minimum 20% of its total capacity. Today, there are only regulations about block 13 and 14 in the 2.3 GHz, but if USO will be applied for the 2.3 GHz then the winners of the USO needs also to pay for the license.

Regarding the technology itself, the government has decided that the technology should be for nomadic usage only. This means that if ISPs of Telco companies wants to apply WiMAX they need to apply the 802.16d (WiMAX nomadic) technology and they may not use the 802.16e (WiMAX mobile) technology. There are also regulations about the components of the BS and the SS. The BS needs to have a minimum of 40% local content/components while the SS needs to have a minimum of 30% local content (called TKDN) which both of them needs to be increased to have a minimum of 50% local content during the next 5 years.

I think these are the main regulations that needs to be known in general for WiMAX or 2300 MHz technology implementations. For more information, please check the official documents "Peraturan Menteri Komunikasi dan Informatika Nomor: 07/PER/M.KOMINFO/01/2009" and "Peraturan Menteri Komunikasi dan Informatika Nomor: 08/PER/M.KOMINFO/01/2009".