Indonesia attended the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), with great challenges, rescuing its three satellite orbits, whose regulatory or legal time will run out before launching a successor satellite.
By
ARRNOLD DJIWATAMPU
·7 minutes read
If this failed, registration for the replacement satellites would be in the bottom order of other countries\' satellites. Really that was a mission with a formidable task. The Communication and Information Ministry, which is in charge of registering national satellites with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), submitted a proposal to extend the regulatory deadline for the three satellite orbits, which would expire before replacement satellites can be operated, to WRC-19 which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a tourist town on the banks of the Red Sea.
In the first session of the 5B3 Sub-Working Group (SWG 5B3) under the 5B Working Group assigned by Committee 5, the first Indonesian proposal was related to the extension of the regulatory limit for the PALAPA C1-B satellite network in the orbit of 113 degrees East Longitude being received without official objection from other ITU member countries. The orbit slot of 113 degrees East Longitude is above Sulawesi, and was extended from 6 Aug. 2019 to 31 July 2020.
But not so with the two proposals for the extension of the Pacific Satellite Nusantara (PSN) satellite orbit time limit of the 146 degrees East Longitude which was proposed to be from 25 October 2019 to 31 March 2023 and the GARUDA-2 satellite in 123 E satellite orbit, which was proposed to be extended from 1 November 2020 to 1 November 2024. In the initial session after Indonesia made an introduction to its proposed file in document number 35 Addendum 35, Australia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) expressed their objections.
In accordance with the proposal by the chairman approved by the session, Indonesia had to complete the coordination process, before being accepted by the session, namely to find a compromise on the specifications of the two satellites that are coordinating so that they do not interfere with each other.
Strategies to face the states who express objections
There were also objections from other countries, which were not formally stated at the session so as not to complicate Indonesia, even though they requested the completion of coordination before the conference was accepted. Coordination with other countries, for example China, was successful with the signing of the agreement between the two parties.
To deal with coordination with Australia and the UAE in particular, Indonesia developed a strategy so that in the end the two countries could accept. First, the Indonesian delegation sought support from other countries that were sympathetic and/or needed compensation support regarding other agendas of the conference, for example, the issue of protecting their satellite services from sharing the same band with terrestrial services or other satellite services.
This was especially done with African countries, which have a history of mutual support, are known to be vocal, and happen to need support related to the proposal of the Africa Telecommunication Union (ATU) to maintain the legacy of ITSO (International Telecommunication Satellite Organization) or ITSO
Heritage. In this case, Indonesia was even invited to attend a coordination meeting of ATU members. South Africa then expressed its reciprocal support to Indonesia.
The Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt specifically met with Iran\'s chairman and delegation. They said their foreign ministry ordered the Iranian delegation to support Indonesia\'s proposal. Before
the departure of the Indonesian delegation, then-communication and information minister Rudiantara invited several ambassadors from friendly countries to ask for their support. A delegation of Samoa, an influential country in the Pacific, was also willing to support on the basis of reciprocal proposals for the protection of its satellite services.
Second, in coordination, it is necessary to foster mutual trust so that there is a willingness to complete coordination after the conference, enhancing cooperative relations between the two operators and the administration. Indonesia will guarantee the landing rights of their satellite services in the Indonesian territory.
Negotiation with Australia
On the coordination with one of the parties who objected, namely NBNco, the Australian operator requested various additional data from the PSN satellite specifications, in addition to what had been given previously when coordinating in Bali. They asked for some data specifications that the manufacturer is developing. PSN suggested the possibility of holding a remote conference via video or the Indonesian team together with representatives of the satellite makers came to Australia after the conference.
Finally, after negotiating from the middle of the first week to the end of the third week of the four-week conference, NBNco relaxed its demands by stating that it would send the draft agreement to PSN to be jointly signed. The NBNco and PSN agreements were then reported to the chair of Committee 5. At the 10th plenary session, after the chair of Committee 5 reported all requests for the extension of the deadline from a number of countries that had been received by the session, including Indonesia\'s proposal on PALAPA C1-B, Indonesia immediately reported the success its coordination with Australia, and without mentioning the development of coordination with the UAE.
The Australian delegation confirmed this success. The event that helped determine the history occurred only two days before the conference closed. This success indirectly put pressure on the UAE to compromise. At the end of the plenary session, the head of the Australian delegation agreed with the Indonesian delegation, that the success of the two administrations in reaching an agreement contributed to good relations between the two countries.
Negotiation with the UEA
Negotiations with the United Arab Emirates operator, Yahsat, were more complicated and annoying than negotiations with NBNco Australia because they were registering satellites to be launched on the same satellite orbit as the Indonesian satellites, which are managed by the satellite operator Dini Nusa Kusama (DNK) at 123 degrees East Longitude.
It seems they were anticipating that if Indonesia\'s proposal failed, then they would replace it. An unusual registration (filing) because generally new registrations are carried out in nearby orbits, for example one degree apart.
They are aware of Indonesia\'s weaknesses, especially as the UAE has a member in the ITU Radiocommunication Regulatory Agency (RRB) who has taken part in determining the validity of satellite orbit registration. DNK\'s proposal to request an extension for four years for the regulation is considered excessive by Yahsat. Weaknesses on DNK\'s part were due to the absence of funding so there were doubts that affected the ordering of replacement satellites taken over by DNK as the operator.
Initially, Yahsat proposed a very one-sided agreement. They asked for protection from its satellite network. On the other hand, DNK could not request protection for its satellites. In fact, they had an interest in also obtaining landing rights for satellite services in the territory of Indonesia. DNK believed that it was better to withdraw than sign an agreement that will bind its freedom.
It seems they were anticipating that if Indonesia\'s proposal failed, then they would replace it.
Yahsat began to relax its demands after the second Indonesian proposal was accepted in the 10th plenary session as reviewed above. A representative of Yahsat and the UAE administration approached the head of the Indonesian delegation in the plenary session, and proposed the signing of an agreement between the two administrations, possibly to make it safer because DNK is a new operator.
After receiving a report about the success of coordination between Indonesia and the UAE, the chair of Committee 5 submitted its report to the 12th plenary session, and finally the 12th plenary session, which was held one day before the conference ended , finally endorsed the Committee 5 report suggesting the approval of the last two Indonesian proposals, which were coordinated with Australia and the UAE. It was all complete where all three proposals for Indonesia to extend the regulatory time limit have been accepted by the plenary session and thus by WRC-19.
The PSN 146 (146 E) satellite network, whose regulatory time limit was fiercely fought for, is crucial for the Multi-Function Satellite (SMF) project being developed by the Communication and Information Ministry. The SMF project is managed by the Information Telecommunications Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) to reach all parts of Indonesia, especially remote areas with better satellite access, with integration to the Palapa Ring network that has reached all capitals of regencies/cities in Indonesia.
President Joko Widodo (center left, background) delivers his keynote speech at the inauguration of the Palapa Ring fiber optic network.
ARRNOLD DJIWATAMPU, Member of the Indonesian Delegation at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19).