Jakarta. Telecommunications operator Indosat Ooredoo denies any deliberate attempt to disable the telecommunication network during the grand campaign of presidential candidate Anies Baswedan and his running mate, Muhaimin Iskandar, at Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) on Saturday.

"There was no intentional act by Indosat to disable the telecommunication network around JIS at that time," Steve Saerang, SVP of Corporate Communication at Indosat Ooredoo, stated, told Beritasatu.com, a sister publication of the Jakarta Globe, on Sunday.

He said the telecommunication outage during the campaign might have been due to high traffic leading to over-capacity. Indosat, he mentioned, made efforts to maximize the existing telecommunication capacity around JIS.

The company is checking with the network team to assess the troubled connection amid the overwhelming crowd during the grand campaign. "Usually, when there are many people, telecommunication becomes difficult, possibly due to over-capacity with many users," he said.

He added that Indosat received no requests for additional telecommunication network capacity on Saturday during the grand campaign.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Information and Public Communication of the Ministry of Communication and Information, Usman Kansong, said the government was not responsible for the poor connection during Anies' campaign. Anies is regarded as the presidential candidate representing the opposition to the current government.

"You may inquire with the relevant mobile operator," said Usman Kansong when contacted by Beritasatu.com.

The Indonesian Telecommunication Providers Association (ATSI) did not respond when Beritasatu.com sought confirmation about the internet outage at JIS. Similarly, the mobile operator XL Axiata did not respond when contacted by Beritasatu.com.

Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan had previously complained about losing internet connectivity during the grand campaign at JIS. 

"The broadcasting of the grand campaign was not optimal. I request an investigation, to thoroughly investigate what happened," said Anies during a press conference at JIS, Jakarta, on Saturday.

Internet connectivity during the grand campaign of Anies-Muhaimin at JIS was disrupted from 07:00 to 12:00 WIB. The available WiFi at the location was unable to connect.

However, a video circulating on social media showed that one of the attendees at JIS was able to connect to PT Telkomsel's signal, a subsidiary of Telkom (TLKM). This was evident from the Telkomsel speed test conducted by the individual.

Meanwhile, the internet networks of operators Indosat Ooredoo and XL Axiata did not function during the grand campaign.

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