Director of special telecommunications at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Ismail (pic above) said the West package is at an advanced stage after the consortium secured funding from Bank Mandiri. "Although the project hasn't broken ground yet, the infrastructure financing has been completed," he said in Jakarta on May 24, on the sidelines of a press conference announcing the Central package financial agreement. Meanwhile the Central package has been awarded to the Pandawa Lima consortium consisting of PT LEN Telekomunikasi Indonesia, PT Teknologi Riset Globa Investama, PT Sufia Technologies, PT Bina Nusantara Perkasa, and PT Multi Kontrol Nusantara. The Central package will connect 17 cities in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, North Maluku (including Sangihe-Talaud Island) with 2,700km of fibre-optic cable.