Indonesia to end analogue broadcasting by November 2022

The Ministry of Communication and Information of Indonesia will take advantage of its internet connectivity to drive the development of the country’s digital ecosystem with the aim of creating more opportunities to promote the expansion of its digital economy.

Philip Gobang, Special Staff to the Minister of Communication and Information for Political Communication is ensuring that the proposed stages of implementing the Analogue Switch Off (ASO) run according to the government’s plan for 2022. He acknowledged that the migration of analogue broadcasts to a digital one offers many benefits for the community and the country. “The benefits we will get from the migration of analogue TV to digital TV are related to the internet and more integrated economic activities.”

He added by utilising access to internet services, various creative ideas can be generated for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) businesses that can avail the opportunities and convenience to access a larger market by using the internet.

According to Gobang, the sooner people migrate to digital television, the more available the radio frequency spectrum will be for internet services. The spectrum that was previously reserved for analogue broadcasts can now be utilised to promote the digital economy. The Ministry of Communication and Informatics will continue to provide stimulus to the public so that the benefits of the ASO program can decrease the digital gap among the localities.

The so-called digital dividend, which is derived through the transfer of analogue TV transmissions to digital, is also an economic advantage for society. This boosts the digital economy’s growth all the more.

Since people were accessing and using internet services more frequently during the pandemic, digital economic growth grew every year. The ASO Programme, which is expected to be completed on 02 November 2022, will result in frequency savings that can be used as a digital dividend for cellular telecommunications services.

Digital TV broadcasting also creates a lot of job opportunities, as well as the formation of innovative firms that take advantage of the increasingly open digital arena, while the general people may enjoy digital broadcasts with a bigger network, faster access, and clearer picture.

Analogue TV Blank Spot Areas Will Be Reached by Digital TV Broadcasts

Meanwhile, Nursodik Gunarjo, Director of Media Management, Directorate General of Information and Public Communication (IKP), Ministry of Communication and Information announced that the digital TV broadcasts would reach the areas with “blank spots” or those places that TV transmissions have not filled.

According to Nursodik, the blank spot is caused by analogue TV broadcast technology’s inability to reach locations with varying geographical circumstances, such as the eastern part of Indonesia, particularly Papua, resulting in limited broadcast coverage.

As a result, after the ASO programme is implemented, the government, through its broadcasting institution has assured to establish digital TV broadcast network infrastructure in the leading, outermost, and underdeveloped areas, including the blank spots.

TVRI, the main national public television channel owned by the Republic of Indonesia plans to develop a network over the next two years so that the 226 blank spot regions can receive digital TV broadcasts.

The rise of community creativity in developing good and creative TV material with local expertise is also projected to be triggered by digital TV broadcasts. It will provide innovative content from local communities as digital TV broadcasts develop, and ASO hopes to decrease the challenges of TV broadcasting in Indonesia’s remote districts.

The first step of the transition from analogue to digital television transmission in Indonesia began in April of this year, with the second phase projected to be completed by August and is expected to finish before 2022 ends. OpenGov Asia