Development Palapa Ring has a number of objectives to be achieved. One is for the expansion of internet access are still the focus of the government. The target is 50 percent of residents have access to the internet with the equity of access to internet. Installation of optical fiber into eastern Indonesia, Manado can be expected to Manokwari to speed up Internet access for residents there (Rahardjo, 2012).
Palapa Ring Project fiber-optic network will also play an important role in economic development. This can be done by strengthening national connectivity and provide access for rural areas (Rahayu, 2011). With the access of the population in some areas, economic activities can be run more efficiently. The existence of these facilities can also invite people from outside to do business and such. Some countries such as Australia and Singapore utilize broadband for economic progress (Sinaga, 2009).
Furthermore, the realization of this project it is expected that telecommunications service providers or data (read-Internet) can be enjoyed until the outposts Indonesia with affordable (Hartono, 2011). Price bandwidth is still expensive in Indonesia, then the impact on the price of internet services that expensive anyway. The high price is due to the large content of foreign content that flood cyberspace traffic in the country (Pitoyo, 2006). The high price of bandwidth is also influenced by the number of access gateways are skipped.
Telecommunications infrastructure development in Eastern Indonesia region also were seen as strongly supported by the Palapa Ring. Palapa Ring attendance is expected to reduce the digital divide between communities, especially in the small towns that have not had broadband networks (Kelly, 2007). If this gap can be overcome, then the distribution of telecommunications in Indonesia can be achieved more easily.
This project is not only meant for local affairs only. Development of Palapa Ring will be seen to have contributed to overseas anyway. Palapa Ring project will be a pilot project reference to other countries, especially countries in the Asia Pacific region (Hindarto, 2009). The difficulty level is high causing Palapa Ring project will be placed as a reference pilot project for other countries.
In addition, areas outside the field of communication is also gaining influence from Palapa Ring. Defense sector also requires a reliable means of communication in the implementation of the defense. According to Col.Pramadi Noor (2010), national defense activities that use the Internet are:
- The administration and logistics of communication, such as letters, telegrams, and other information that utilizes the Internet,
- The field of command and control communications, such as radio, satellite, and internet facilities,
- the communication intelligence activities, including data collection, analysis, and presentation of data,
- the communication field surveillance activities (surveillance / monitoring),
- communication activity field reconnaissance (reconnaissance) .(author : Venessa Giovanni)
