| Indonesia’s Initiatives for COVID-19 Mitigation in Telecommunication and Informatics SectorIndonesia’s Initiatives for COVID-19 Mitigationin Telecommunication and Informatics Sector - 10/05/2020 |
| Ministry of Communication and Informatics |
| TELECOM/ICT Policy Makers and Regulators | Asia & Pacific | Indonesia |
| Ministry of Communication and Informatics Republic of Indonesia (MCI Indonesia) is exerting all efforts to curb the wide spread of COVID-19, minimize its impact, and protect the community. MCI has Internet Connectivity and Quality of Service (QoS) Monitoring of Telecommunication Services to support Work from Home and learning from home programs, and Internet Connectivity program set to provide internet access to emergency hospitals. MCI also engages Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), PT Telkom, and private sectors to develop applications to support COVID-19 mitigation. One of applications developed is Pedulilindungi (Take care and Protect) designed to help users in recognizing the status of the area they are in. There are also Bersatu Lawan Covid (United Against COVID) and COVID-19 WhatsApp Chatbot which provide access to most recent news on COVID-19. Meanwhile, Telemedicine application is provided as an online health consultation platform.MCI has placed IoT Smart Machines to minimize physical interaction at retail markets, pharmacies and supermarket chains. In addition, MCI has programs to support talent and economy such as Digital Talent Scholarship Siberkreasi Digital Literacy, Startup Weekend Indonesia, MSMEs Go Online.MCI actively creates and publishes Public Service Advertisements (PSAs) which bring forward COVID-19 issues, the roles of the government in handling the pandemic, stay-at-home campaigns, and more. MCI engages print and online media to disseminate reliable news on COVID-19 and provides sign language interpreter support to COVID-19 Mitigation Task Force. Furthermore, MCI teams up with National Police to conduct monitoring of the most viral or trending COVID-19 issues and to handle cases of misinformation/disinformation. All the aforementioned initiatives and programs are part of Indonesia’s attempts to curb and mitigate the wide spread of COVID-19. Nevertheless, Indonesia will always review its policies taken and seek for the best practices to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic. |
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Keywords: MCI, Pedulilindungi, Digital Talent Scholarship, disinformation, mobile apps, connectivity, Quality of Service (QoS) |