The Institute of Technology Bandung's Community Service and Research Institution (LPPM ITB), in collaboration with the Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (PDTT), has conducted community service activities in remote, frontier, and outermost (3T) areas in 30 villages across Eastern Indonesia. One of the selected villages for this program is Baruakol Village, located in the Mangoli Tengah District, North Maluku.

Ahmad Izzuddin, the team leader from LPPM ITB, stated to the media on Friday (10/11/2023) that through the Desanesha application developed by LPPM ITB to connect village officials and experts from ITB, the Head of Baruakol Village, Mr. Jufri Sapsuha, expressed the community's complaints regarding internet/telecommunication networks, where internet access in the village still feels slow and inadequate to meet the village's needs.

He emphasized the importance of internet access as a primary necessity for communities today, including in 3T areas. LPPM ITB assigned their team and a team from the Telecommunications Engineering Expertise Group at the School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (STEI) to investigate the problem and find solutions. The team included Mr. Daniel Wiyogo, a lecturer at STEI ITB, assisted by Muhammad Andhika Almuqaddami Gaffar and Muhammad Iqbal Arrachman, students of Telecommunications Engineering at STEI.

"This community service activity began with communication with Mr. Jufri Sapsuha, the Head of Baruakol Village, through the Desanesha application to gather information and assess the current conditions in Baruakol Village, followed by a direct survey of Baruakol Village in late July 2023," said Ahmad Izzuddin, the head of the LPPM ITB team.

During the survey, Ahmad Izzuddin continued, the team checked and tested the internet network conditions in the village, mapped out the installation locations, and coordinated with the beneficiaries. It was observed that there was already one 4G eNodeB tower managed by Telkomsel and BAKTI in Baruakol Village, which covered the entire village area, but the speed was still inadequate for daily internet use. One of the results of the survey was the design of the network to be implemented in the village and the plan for WiFi access point installations accessible to the people of Baruakol Village. Satellite internet access using a High Throughput Satellite (HTS) Ka-band with speeds up to 30 Mbps was proposed.

He stated that activities in the village continued at the end of October 2023 with several main agendas, namely, configuring and installing electronic and radio devices. The devices configured and installed included satellite antenna sets and modems, routers, switches, mini PCs, indoor and outdoor WiFi access points, and microwave radio links.

"Configuration activities were carried out to ensure that the devices could connect to the network and be accessed centrally. Then, poles were installed at three points: the Baruakol Village Office, the Head of Village's House, and the Integrated Public Junior High School (SMP Negeri 4 Satu Atap) in Mangoli Tengah to allow more village residents to access the internet," he explained.

He elaborated that the installation of these poles was carried out with the help of village residents using materials available in the village, such as TV satellite dish poles, electrical poles, and flagpoles. The central network point and internet access connection were placed at the Baruakol Village Office, while the other two points were connected to the Baruakol Village Office using microwave radio links due to the distance from the village office, and overall network testing was conducted at each WiFi access point. The test results were then presented to the village head and village officials and tested for about two days by village residents on a limited basis.

"Subsequently, training was conducted on the use and configuration of WiFi to assist village officials in managing, utilizing, and benefiting from WiFi access independently," he added.

The next step was the dissemination of the results of the community service activities in the form of internet access and WiFi points in the village, as well as the symbolic handover of the results at the Baruakol Village Office. The dissemination and handover of the results were attended by the Village Head, Village Secretary, Village Officials, and residents of Baruakol Village.

"Alhamdulillah, our activities in Baruakol Village received tremendous support, fully supported by village officials and residents. We are grateful for the support of the village community during this activity, allowing it to run smoothly," Ahmad Izzuddin said.

He also hoped to directly contribute to the 3T areas and provide sustainable benefits in bringing internet access to Baruakol Village. "We hope that the improved internet access will bring positive impacts to the people of Baruakol Village," Ahmad expressed.

Moreover, the Head of Baruakol Village, Mr. Jufri Sapsuha, expressed his gratitude to the team for the community service program resulting from the collaboration between ITB and Kemendesa PDTT. "Thank you to the team from ITB for taking the time to travel to our village to carry out internet and WiFi installation activities in Baruakol Village," said the Village Head.

As the village head, he was very grateful to the ITB team for their work in our village. Alhamdulillah, this can provide benefits to us, the people of Baruakol Village, regarding WiFi in the village. "We are also grateful to the Kemendesa for their assistance and the continuity of this program. Our hope is that the WiFi used by the community will be even better than before," he concluded.

Source: https://kabarsula.com/desa-baruakol-kini-nikmati-akses-internet-cepat-berkat-program-lppm-itb/