MobileMonday Indonesia - Networking Forum for Professionals in Mobile Industry

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What is MobileMonday?

MobileMonday is a community of mobile, media and internet professionals, which promotes the mobile and digital industries and fosters cooperation and networking among industry people and their companies by providing opportunities for personal and virtual contacts.

MobileMonday currently running in more than 60 cities around the world and 400 events each year are held worldwide.

Google: Mobile Search Tremendous Growth

Blog Post

By Andreas Surya, on 01-07-2008 19:01

Another shocking interesting fact from Google. Andrew McGlinchey shared with us that search done from mobile in Indonesia is growing tremendously since September 2007. And for the last 6 months, basically the number has doubled already.

The why is still a mystery, but also this is an encouraging trend that mobile Internet is potentially a big market here in our country. Interestingly, the same trend is confirmed by other global and regional (mobile) Internet players, like Opera Mini, AdMob, Buzzcity, etc.

One more thing.

Could you help Google to validate their findings (search log) by doing this search on your mobile phone?

Please enter a search in the format of
"Momo1234 operator plan phonetype"

Example:
"Momo1234 Telkomsel Prepaid 3G Nokia N95"
"Momo1234 Indosat Matrix Huawei Modem"

June Recap: WiMAX in Indonesia

Event Reports

By Andreas Surya, on 01-07-2008 18:43

Yesterday was a fun, but a little bit different MoMo event.... First is that we co-hosted the event with MASTEL, the topic was mobile infrastructure related. Naturally, we have a bit different audience. But it was still filled with relax, fun and productive atmosphere.

Here's the recap, as promised.

Pak Giri from MASTEL welcome the audience and gave an interesting example on how broadband can bring productivity and increase quality of life.

Werner Sutanto from Intel explained the status of WiMAX from around the globe: deployment and use cases, drivers for adoption (which is the pervasiveness of Internet), and most importantly certification status.

It is also interesting that major countries in SEA in the forefront of WiMAX deployment. Networks in Singapore, Malaysia, The Philipines and Cambodia are approaching commercial launch.

He shared Intel platforms that will go into notebooks and MID/mobile handsets. Fueled by certification and mass adoption, chipset price will go further down and drive the demand further.

Next, Yohan Suryanto from ABWINDO shared his view about the potential of WiMAX in Indonesia. He mentioned clearly that access to information is one of the key human rights (Pancasila Sila V) and thus driving the demand for bandwidth all across Indonesia. WiMAX is a key technology enabler to serve this.

Yohan and Werner highlighted the need for thorough eco system to boost adoption. (And later on also voiced by Trio).

As for Indonesia, he gave a number of good proposal to enable WiMAX, such as: potential frequency band to be allocated, equipment standards, licenses reward process.

Last but not least, Trio Adiono from ITB explained his bold vision to enter the WiMAX chipset business. He and team have already 20 years of experience in chip design, and he believed that the time is right for Indonesia to ride on the WiMAX wave.

Their first product will be 2.3 GHz WiMAX baseband chipset. (Baseband is the part which processes digital data from MAC/Ethernet layer into IF data to feed the radio part, if you know what I mean).

We conclude the event with Google giving away a couple of mugs and a very interesting insight on what's happening recently in Indonesian mobile Internet market. (Details after the break).

Slides will be available in this website (see the Download section) or in Slideshare (goto www.slideshare.net/idmobilemonday).

Invite: WiMAX @ MoMo June

Event Announcements

By Andreas Surya, on 23-06-2008 15:40

Dear MobileMonday Indonesia,

WiMAX has been talked about, hyped, previewed, and trialed all over the world, including in Indonesia. It is potentially disruptive to the mobile world. But, do we know what WiMAX is actually? What have other service providers been doing in this front? And importantly, how's Indonesia doing in this arena? What are the opportunities for us, the mobile community?

MASTEL (Masyarakat Telematika Indonesia) and MobileMonday Indonesia cordially invite you to the MobileMonday event for June with the topic "WiMAX in Indonesia"

We will be joined by 3 great speakers and one special guest...

Werner Sutanto from Intel will update you on the latest development of WiMAX and will share his vast experience regarding the deployment of WiMAX networks in Asia and throughout the world.
Yohan Suryanto from ABWINDO will highlight the WiMAX prospects and opportunities in Indonesia along with key aspects critical to its development.
And Trio Adiono (ITB/Versatile Silicon Technologies) -- the WiMAX chipset inventor from Indonesia -- will preview his innovation!!
... and special appearance by Andrew McGlinchey from Google South East Asia

Here's the event details:

Day & Date : Monday, 30 June 2008
Time : 18.00 - 20.30 WIB
Place : Amigos Restaurant, Bellagio Boutique Mall, GF @ Mega Kuningan Area, Jakarta

Remember, networking session is served along with a nice dinner and informative presentations from our speakers....
Please register on our website for the event. Registration is free, and it's first come first served... remember space is rather limited.

See you there!
Bonus link:

Bisnis Indonesia: Lingkungan untuk Produksi WiMAX sudah Siap

WiMAX: Intro

Blog Post

By Andreas Surya, on 23-06-2008 11:38

We decided to feature few short articles about WiMAX to introduce you to this topic, which we will bring to the upcoming MobileMonday. Enjoy!

WiMAX: Introduction

What is it?

WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Like GSM/UMTS, WiMAX is not a single technology; it’s a family of interoperable technologies for broadband wireless access.

"Interoperability" and "broadband wireless" are the key words here.

WiMAX is based on the protocol IEEE 802.16 and ETSI HyperMAN. The original specification, IEEE 802.16, was completed in 2001 and intended primarily for telecom backhaul applications in point-to-point line-of-sight configurations using spectrum above 10 GHz. This original version uses a radio interface based on a single-carrier waveform. The standards eventually evolve into broadband wireless access application, incorporating advanced technologies, e.g. OFDM, dynamic modulation and coding, and MIMO to maximize throughput and spectral efficiency.

However, in every specification there are a lot of rooms for different interpretations, making it very difficult to do interopeorability.

Enter WiMAX Forum. It is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standard. A WiMAX Forum goal is to accelerate the introduction of these systems into the marketplace. WiMAX Forum Certified products are fully interoperable and support broadband fixed, portable and mobile services. Along these lines, the WiMAX Forum works closely with service providers and regulators to ensure that WiMAX Forum Certified systems meet customer and government requirements.

So what?

It is promising.

The technology itself enables a network which is robust and quick to deploy (it's wireless and non-line of sight), has relatively wide coverage (definitely a lot wider than WiFi), and can deliver a great deal of bandwidth to users (it's broadband), therefore enabling service providers to offer high-speed Internet access to unserved market. Especially important in countries where fixed infrastructure are still very limited (or non-existent).

The business model is also interesting (potentially disruptive). Interoperability promises economics of scale and open ecosystem -- thus at the end creating low-cost systems and inexpensive customer premises equipment. Take a number of successful examples: WiFi, PC technology, and even GSM. All standardized, interoperable and inexpensive.

Moreover, Intel is planning to integrate WiMAX chip to notebook chipset (similar to what they did with WiFi), this might change the game, making WiMAX more suited for mobile lifestyle...

Deployment of WiMAX network, especially the one based on 802.16d (a.k.a. Fixed/Nomadic WiMAX) has started since a few years ago, all over the world. These operators typically offer 1-2 Mb/s Internet access to their subscribers. (Ed. Even during Aceh Tsunami recovery, WiMAX was used as a network infrastructure, although I don't know if it is still running now, or was dismantled)

Next: WiMAX Network and Performance, "Fixed" and "Mobile" WiMAX, Spectrum, and "Competittion"

Bonus link:

MoMo Hyderabad: Introduction to WiMAX (via SlideShare)

Blog Post

By Andreas Surya, on 11-06-2008 11:48

First hop, London.
For the last two months MoMo London discussed mobile marketing/advertising topics... their May event was about Advertising "Monetisation through Advertising" and their June event was titled "Wassup in Mobile Media and Marketing."

Excellent summary of those events are available on mjelly's blog: May and June.
Slides should be available in the London homepage (here's the slide for May).

Next stop, Amsterdam.
For their 1 year anniversary (Happy B-Day, guys!), our MoMo colleagues arranged a serious event this June (450 attendees, all the important people in mobile, and major thought leaders in the industry!). The main topic is about mobile marketing and advertising, of course, featuring Blyk, Chetan Sharma, and Russel Buckley/Admob. The hot topic for this year, and an untapped market in Indonesia... All slides (and even the video) are available in their website: mobilemonday.nl.

Some of the speakers also wrote a summary of the event/their speech, e.g. Chetan Sharma on Mobile Advertising in Asia and Russel Buckley talking about AdMob.

Curious? Intrigued? Check it out....

More...