Sampoerna Telekomunikasi Indonesia (STI) has announced plans to expand its Net1 Indonesia branded LTE services to the island of Bali.
The operator’s 450-MHz LTE service will be deployed to all areas of Bali ranging from Gilimanuk on the west to the eastern end in Gili Selang, the operator announced. STI is targeting rural areas before entering urban areas.
“Bali is one of the provinces on Indonesia that support the nation’s economy through its tourism industry, STI CEO Larry Ridwan said.
“Over time, the tourism industry is not only talking about traveling or merely to market travel destinations, but also to provide growth for supporting industries, especially in remote parts of Bali island. That is why we have a strong commitment to support local economy of Bali through the provision of reliable telecommunication access.”
STI is in the process of migrating its CDMA subscribers to its 4G network and plans to complete the migration by the end of the year.
STI is Indonesia’s only operator to have deployed in the 450-MHz band using CDMA2000 1x technology. The operator holds a nationwide license and has so far deployed coverage on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara Barat, and Maluku.
As part of its 4G migration, STI recently entered a partnership with telecoms vendor PT INTI to jointly produce devices supporting the 450-MHz spectrum.