Indonesia’s Communications and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate, on a working visit to the Schneider Electric Indonesian base in Batam, Riau Islands, affirmed that the Indonesian government would strongly encourage the utilisation of local components within data centre construction to create domestic jobs.
In an article originally reported by Antara, Plate affirmed the Indonesian government’s strong commitment to promoting Indonesia’s domestic industry, noting that “the government really puts emphasis on Indonesian components”.
The Indonesian government selected Batam as the site for a national data centre given the accessibility of supporting infrastructure at its prime location, such as fibre-optic infrastructure, electricity supply, water supply, and connection to the global Internet backbone.
While on his working visit in Batam, Plate also spoke on the Indonesian government’s plans to build four National Data Centres (PDN) to support the implementation of the state’s data-driven policies. The government will build the data centres to be in accordance with global Tier-IV standards, and will function as digital data warehouses.
Strategy for Foreign Investment in Data Centres
Beyond the data centre at Nongsa Digital Park in Batam, the Indonesian government also plans to build data centres in the Deltamas Industrial Estate (Jabodetabek), the new capital city (IKN) Nusantara in East Kalimantan, and Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTB). The government expects that the construction of these data centres will attract foreign investors to the region.
Director of Government Information Application Services at the Communication and Informatics Ministry’s Directorate General of Informatics Applications, Bambang Dwi Anggono, affirmed that Batam meets the Indonesian government’s standards, as well as international standards, as a politically-stable region with low incidence of natural disasters.
Plate also raised some of the Indonesian government’s efforts at digital transformation during his working visit.
For instance, he highlighted the government’s policy in supporting 5G utilisation, even though the current technology backbone network being used in Indonesia is 4G. Plate added that 5G technology can bring many benefits to society by enabling smart transformation efforts, such as “smart city, smart village, smart airport, smart harbour, and Internet of Things utilization”. The Communication and Informatics ministry also conducts frequency spectrum farming and refarming, to support the utilisation of more advanced technology.
Earlier this year, President Joko Widodo issued Presidential Instruction No. 2 of 2022 to bolster the utilisation of domestic products, as well as micro and small enterprises and cooperatives products. The Indonesian government also allocates 1400 trillion Rp annually for domestic sector spending.
Nonetheless, while government support for domestic industry in Indonesia is important, private sector investment is also critical for Indonesia’s data centre industry.
Plate affirmed that the government’s allocation for domestic spending budget could be even more significant in driving the data centre industry’s growth, if private sector companies could also support domestic industries and utilise domestically-made components. As such, Batam has also seen increased interest from data centre operators, especially in recent times.
“Digital Transformation” is a sub-category under the “Outstanding IT and Cloud Projects” awards category for this year’s W.Media Asia-Pacific Cloud & Datacenter Awards. Thinking of nominating or sponsoring? Visit our Awards Page for more information. Nominations are open until 31st July.
