Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Discourse of turning off 2G was heard after cellular operators shut down 3G some time ago. Chairman of the Indonesian Telematics Society (Mastel), Sarwoto Atmosutarno explained that this could be done.
“If it depends on you, does your cellphone still use 2G, so if your cellphone doesn’t have 2G, why do we provide it, it’s a shame the frequency is used idle,” said Sarwoto when met in Jakarta, Thursday (24/8/2023).
He explained that operators can do many things to suppress 2G usage and turn it off. For example, with an incentive to provide devices that support 4G.
Apart from that, you can also imitate what happened with Flexi. At that time CDMA was left until no one wanted to use it.
“Yes, now, for example, we are pro-low-income people, analogue is still used by villagers, to be able to go digital you have to buy an STB, now STB must be provided by the government or operator, so it’s the same later,” he explained.
So if we turn off feature phones, are there any subsidies from the government or operators. Or let it be, like Flexi, over time no one wants to use CDMA, so I’ve replaced it with Telkomsel here,” added Sarwoto.
Previously, XL Axiata was in the process of shutting down 2G BTS in several regions of the country. Director & Chief Technology Officer of XL Axiata I Gede Darmayusa explained that a number of areas, including Jakarta, rarely use 2G. Steps to turn off the network will be carried out in line with the development of 2G.
“After we shut down 3G, which currently has only 1,000 (BTS), we will also start reducing 2G slowly,” said Gede when met some time ago.
But this step will be done naturally and not in a hurry. Because the service is still used, from customers to enterprises.
“EDC machines are still 2G. The banks must also move them to 4G so that 2G can be shut down. Because that is a source of revenue that is still large,” he said.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]