Indonesia Set to Throw Open 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz Spectrum Auctions for Blazing-Fast 5G

If you’ve noticed your 4G connection acting sluggish lately, you’re not alone. But relief might be on the way. Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) is gearing up to auction off two coveted slices of radio spectrum—the 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands—that operators say could turbo-charge the country’s Internet speeds for both 4G and still-nascent 5G networks.

Over the past week, the ministry quietly set the stage for a fresh spectrum bonanza—complementing last year’s already-completed auction of the 1.4 GHz band for fixed-broadband. Now, it seems, the spotlight shifts to the airwaves most coveted for zippy 5G rollouts.

A Direct Order from the Top

Denny Setiawan, Director of Digital Infrastructure Policy and Strategy at Komdigi, laid out the timeline (or what’s left of it) during the IndoTelko Forum in Jakarta last Thursday. Speaking to a packed ballroom, Denny acknowledged the challenge of squeezing the auction into the final month of the year.

"We were also asked by our leader, Minister Meutya Hafid, to prepare auctions for the 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands specifically for 5G services," Denny said, adding a dash of urgency to the proceedings.

In other words, the green light came straight from the minister herself—making this arguably one of her most granular directives since taking the post.

From Analog TV Static to 5G Superhighway

The 700 MHz band may be familiar to longtime television viewers. Once dedicated to analog TV broadcasts, it fell silent after the government flipped off analog transmitters and transitioned the nation to digital television. That transition—better known as the Analog Switch-Off (ASO)—unexpectedly gifted the telecom sector a fat chunk of spectrum.

Here’s the math: the ASO created a sparkling 112 MHz of “digital dividend.” Out of that, the ministry earmarked 2 x 45 MHz (90 MHz total) for mobile broadband. Think of it as squeezing four cars into a two-lane highway and then paving two extra lanes—overnight.

Operators love 700 MHz because low-band frequencies travel far and penetrate walls without breaking a sweat. For rural provinces and thick-concrete apartment blocks alike, this band is gold dust.

Mid-Band Magic: The 2.6 GHz Story

Fast forward up the dial, and we land on 2.6 GHz. Unlike 700 MHz’s long-haul reach, 2.6 GHz trades distance for sheer throughput and spectral elbow-room: 190 MHz of contiguous bandwidth to be precise. Crucially, it uses Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode—think lanes of traffic that change direction on demand—so operators can balance download and upload traffic in real time.

Denny highlighted another under-the-hood perk: 2.6 GHz currently boasts the second-largest ecosystem of 4G and 5G devices globally, trailing only the popular 3.5 GHz band. Translation? Your next mid-range smartphone has a better-than-average chance of squeezing out gigabit speeds on 2.6 GHz.

Komdigi is blunt about expectations: put 2.6 GHz to work, and Indonesians should enjoy “high-quality broadband connectivity” far beyond today’s patchy experience.

Consulting the Crowd Before Planting Towers

Before anyone raises a bidding paddle, the ministry wrapped up a public consultation on both bands. Feedback ranged from “charge us less spectrum fees” to “please protect our existing satellite dishes.” Komdigi insists it weighed each suggestion—good or bad—before pressing “play” on the auction playlist.

Tick-Tock: Why 2023 Auction is Still iffy

Back to Denny’s elephant-in-the-room moment: can all of this even happen before fireworks light up Jakarta’s skyline on New Year’s Eve? In a word, no—at least, not if you ask Denny.

He diplomatically stated that “launching the auction with only one month left this year is considered difficult.” Translation: keep an eye on 2024, folks. A Q1 auction seems the safest bet.

Smarter 3T, Smarter Subsidies

Beyond new spectrum, the ministry is rebooting how it defines Indonesia’s 3T regions—those “tertinggal, terdepan, dan terluar” (disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost) zones that lawmakers love to champion. Under the old system, 3T coverage hinged on raw administrative borders. That created odd overlaps: some suburban districts qualified for subsidy while mountainous villages 20 minutes away did not.

Now, Komdigi wants to paint three “zones” on a map based on hard economic and technical data:

• Zone 1 (Green): Where the market already invests—no subsidy, just regulation.
• Zone 2 (Yellow): Marginal coverage—think small villages on the cusp of profitability.
• Zone 3 (Red): 3T in the truest sense—areas that will almost certainly need government subsidies for any signal to show up on your phone.

Operators in non-3T zones will be expected to cross-subsidize red regions through universal-service contributions. Yes, that’s telecom-speak for “higher license fees in Jakarta pay for towers in Papua.”

What This Means for Everyday Users

If everything lands on schedule, most consumers won’t see new spectrum magically appear in their signal bars tomorrow. Networks need time to flip old satellites, retune radio modules, and secure mountains of new equipment. But once in place—possibly by 2025—the combo of 700 MHz reach and 2.6 GHz speed should deliver that coveted 100 Mbps-plus experience in Balikpapan coffee shops or remote Bintan homestays alike.

For enterprise users, factories or agro-tourism parks eyeing IoT deployments should finally get reliable indoor coverage at 700 MHz, while 2.6 GHz delivers high-capacity uploads of sensor data or drone imagery in near-real time.

The Bottom Line

Indonesia’s next spectrum auction may not break world broadband records, but it promises to unlock the last sizeable blocks under government control—short of the yet-unavailable millimeter-wave frequencies. Whether you’re a telco CFO gaming spreadsheet scenarios or simply someone sick of the loading spinner on YouTube, the 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands are poised to turn Indonesia’s patchwork 4G quilt into a seamless, high-octane 5G tapestry.

Watch this space—literally.