“Palapa Ring” project is the development of backbone network project designed and implemented using submarine fiber-optic cable system to cover 57 city/district where some are still underserved. This project is one of National Strategic Infrastructure Projects as stated in Presidential Decree No. 3 of 2013, which also categorized as National Priority Project. The procurement of were divided into 3 (three) main packages; the Western, Central, and Eastern with an estimated range of coverage along 8479 km. The project is targeted to distribute broadband services to end users with a transfer speed of at least 10 Mbps in rural areas and 20 MBps in urban areas. 

Palapa Ring has become the first project in telecommunication sector using Availability Payment/AP scheme offered by the government through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. Based on the AP scheme, the government through Ministry of Communication and Informatics will pay winning bidder after the infrastructure is completed and is ready for operation. The AP scheme differed from other PPP scheme using the Viability Gap Fund (VGF). The VGF scheme use direct funding in the beginning of the project as a payment method while the payment method for AP scheme will be done based on the performance of winning bidder. Therefore, the project development fund is fully borne by the private sector with the estimate value at USD 452 million (initial capex EPC).

On 29 February 2016, The Minister of Communication and Informatics as the Contracting Agency has signed the cooperation agreement with PT Palapa Ring Barat (Consortium of Moratel Triasmitra) for The “West Package” of The Palapa Ring Project worth IDR1.24 trillion. On the same occassion, Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund (IIGF) as a single window providing guarantees for Public Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects also signed the Guarantee Agreement and Recourse Agreement for Palapa Ring project.