The Ministry of Communication and Digital (Kemkomdigi) reported disruptions to telecommunications services in Central Tapanuli Regency, South Tapanuli Regency and Sibolga City, North Sumatra Province, due to the floods and landslides that hit the region on Wednesday (26/11).
"Based on PMT infrastructure distribution data, the area contains telecommunications infrastructure belonging to PT Telekomunikasi Selular, PT Indosat Tbk, and PT XLSmart Telecom Sejahtera Tbk," said the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs in a written statement received.
According to data from the Ministry of Communication and Digital, telecommunications service disruptions caused by flooding have resulted in the downtime of 495 sites, or around 1.42 percent of the total 34,660 existing sites in North Sumatra Province.
The affected sites experienced disruptions (down) due to power outages from PLN and transmission disruptions.
The Ministry of Communication and Digital explained that currently, cellular operators are trying to restore sites affected by the power outage from PLN by using generators as an alternative power supply until the electricity supply returns to normal. However, this is hampered by road access that is still affected by flooding, thus hampering the mobilization of generators to the location.
Cellular operators have also attempted to restore sites that were down due to transmission disruptions by routing to several points that can still be served and are currently being verified for further checks.
