Jakarta. The Merah Putih 2 satellite, which took off using the Falcon 9 rocket, is set to begin operating in early April 2024, according to Telkomsat, the subsidiary of the state-owned telecommunications firm Telkom.

In February, Telkom launched the satellite using Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On March 3, the Merah Putih 2 satellite arrived in orbit 113 BT. The in-orbit test (IOT) concluded on March 21 and was declared a success. Starting on March 26, Telkomsat will hold an in-orbit acceptance review (IOAR).

“Hopefully, the [Merah Putih 2] satellite is ready to serve all Indonesian people by early April 2024,” Telkomsat’s business development director Anggoro Kurnianto Widiawan told reporters in Jakarta on Monday evening.

According to Anggoro, the satellite will start out with about 40 percent capacity and then will enter full operations in the second semester of 2024. Anggoro claimed that the satellite would be able to serve services in health, banking, mining, and transport, among others.

Merah Putih 2 satellite is Telkom Group’s 11th satellite. It is also the group’s first satellite that uses high throughput satellite (HTS) technology. It holds a capacity of up to 32 Gbps, and carries active transponders in C-band and Ku-band frequencies, which will cover the entire Indonesian archipelago.