Bandung city goverment does not want to lose to Surakarta and Yogyakarta city goverment in providing internet access for its citizen. Last October, the government of Solo provided 40 hotzones along 10 km. This followed by Yogyakarta city government which provided hotspot service for every village starting 2012. Now, Bandung city government brings the internet access provider to the new level by providing hotspot to the level of block.
Around 1.563 blocks in Bandung will get hotspot facility for free. Internet access will be open for public on October. This program is held by Bandung city government in cooperation with PT. Telkom.
Regional Secretary of Bandung, Edi Siswandi, as reported by Pikiran Rakyat (article in Indonesian), says that the program, which named RW Net, is a step to realize Bandung as Cyber City. In addition to the local office of each block, hotspot facility will also be provided at parks all over Bandung.
With the RW Net program, Bandung city government hopes to smoothen the communication between the citizen with the government. The government can socialized policies and giving report on various city development programs. Citizen can also give input or complain about many problems of Bandung directly to the Bandung city government.
Bandung city goverment will also cooperate with Bank Bukoping to utilize the RW Net program as online payment point for bills. Eventually, people can buy phone credit, paying waater and electricity bills via RW Net.
After Solo, Yogyakarta and Bandung, which city comes next?