Indonesian Government Deploys Iridium® Push-to-Talk, Overcoming Remote Communications Challenges

April 13, 2021

Iridium Communications Inc. announced that the Republic of Indonesia’s government has adopted Iridium Push-to-Talk (PTT) devices to support communication efforts across the country. By fully deploying 500 Iridium PTT handsets, the Indonesian government now has a reliable “grab-and-go” real-time satellite communications solution, ideal for communications on-the-move applications across the country’s diverse island landscapes.

As the largest archipelago in the world, Indonesia is made up of five major islands and more than 17,500 smaller islands, of which about 6,000 are inhabited.1 The size and scope of its territory makes building and maintaining cellular or land-mobile radio (LMR) network infrastructure expensive, challenging and impractical. It also leaves a need for communications resiliency across all of Indonesia, especially during and after natural disasters, as the country’s topography is subject to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. During emergencies, Indonesian government personnel deploy on Search and Rescue missions to its remote islands that may have damaged or unreliable connectivity. Iridium PTT is helping the country conquer these challenges, immediately providing an easily deployed, cost-effective solution for reliable real-time communications on land, at sea or in the air.

Iridium service provider PT Amalgam Indocorpora supported the implementation by providing the Indonesian government with customized Icom IC-SAT100 PTT devices. With one-to-many communication at the push of a button and Iridium's truly global coverage, the devices help ensure Indonesian government personnel remain connected. This capability brings immense value to the Indonesian government as they bridge the previous connectivity gap, allowing deployed teams to efficiently communicate with one another across the country’s islands over the Iridium network. 

The IC-SAT100 is a compact, user-friendly radio with military grade ruggedness and includes a high audio speaker to ensure communications clarity, even in high ambient noise environments.  Radio-style control knobs and a familiar LMR user interface make the IC-SAT100 incredibly easy to operate for existing radio users. With real-time, one-to-many communication, the highly secure service has end-to-end AES-256 encryption, making it an ideal option for militaries and government organizations in need of global group communications capabilities offering operational security and safety. Users will know that regardless of where in the world they need to deploy personnel and assets, they will remain within coverage.

“The small, lightweight and high-performing IC-SAT100 PTT device is the ideal tool for keeping dispatched personnel connected beyond the reach of traditional LMR networks,” says Bryan Hartin, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Iridium. “In Indonesia’s remote locations, where terrestrial networks are limited or non-existent, and in disaster-affected areas where terrestrial networks are damaged, the government can rely on the Iridium network to stay connected.”

“From customization to activation, it was an honor to work with the Indonesian government to ensure device best practices and a swift deployment to the field,” says Andre Halim, president director, PT Amalgam Indocorpora. “With a full suite of Iridium solutions, we are committed to working closely with our customers to support their vast connectivity needs.”

PT Amalgam Indocorpora also supports customers’ connectivity needs for businesses and governments with Iridium Certus® and IoT solutions, ideal for tracking personnel and assets, command and control, situational awareness and more. Iridium Certus is the only truly global broadband service that provides weather-resilient coverage for on-the-move internet and high-quality voice access. As the satellite IoT market continues to grow, Iridium’s suite of small form factor, low-power IoT devices continues to expand, further establishing Iridium's position as the leader across a variety of industries ranging from maritime, aviation, government, land mobile and more.

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