JULY 2019 FORBES INDONESIA | 25AeroGeosurvey in January. Despite
being established only three years ago,
Terra Drone has already opened 20
branches across the globe.
“Terra Drone scouts local com-
panies as part of its strategy. It aims
to become the number one in the
world by becoming number one in
every country, and by using the most
advanced technology,” says Michael,
managing director of Terra Drone
Indonesia and co-founder of Aero-
Geosurvey. “I believe that by joining
forces, we will be able to get technol-
ogy access across the globe.”
Following the acquisition, the
company now has access to technol-
ogy provided by Terra Drone Corpo-
ration. Whenever Terra Drone
Indonesia has a new project,
the Japanese headquarter will
recommend which technology
is best applicable, or even which
technology from other countries’
projects might be suitable.
“We used to specialize in
aerial mapping. From our tran-
sition period until now we have
used Light Detection and Rang-
ing [LiDAR]. We also conduct
monitoring and inspection for
oil and gas companies. Now we
are able to provide almost any
large-coverage project using
drones,” says Michael.
The LiDAR technology has
been applied in several projects,
such as for topographic surveys
and mapping of construction
sites. The result is IoT-integrat-
ed, delivered in a high-resolu-
tion and accurate 3D model, and
used for reference, decision-
making, and project completion
monitoring. In March, Terra
Drone Indonesia was the first to
apply LiDAR in a post-disaster
recovery project in Palu, work-
ing with the Japan Internation-
al Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The company has also been
working with other big corpo-
rates such as PT Wijaya Karya, PT
Waskita Karya, PT PLN, and PT Pem-
bangunan Perumahan.
Along the way, according to Mi-
chael, the company client base has
also been changing. Up until 2016 the
majority of clients came from agricul-
ture, but in the last two years it has
begun shifting to construction, infra-
structure, and buildings, which now
account for 60% of overall projects,
followed by mining, oil and gas, and
agriculture.
“Oil palms can grow up to 20
years, so they only need to be mapped
once. On the other hand, construc-
tion and mining experience higher
frequencies of development thanagriculture [so repeat monitoring is
required],” Michael explains.
Last year the company handled 39
projects mostly for construction map-
ping and this year it aims to double
this number. The company can han-
dle projects that cover areas ranging
from 3,000–20,000 hectares. Terra
Drone Indonesia can also ask assis-
tance from the principal or overseas
branch when dealing with projects
that involve processing large amounts
of data if necessary.
The Terra Drone service price de-
pends on several factors such as the
total surveyed area, location and its
complexity, as well as type of data out-
put. However, Terra Drone Indonesia
claims that its price is lower than the
market rate because it is able to use al-
ternative components while maintain-
ing standards. Its LiDAR service for
example, only costs up to Rp 1 million
per hectare whereas other providers
can charge up to Rp 1.5 million. This
year the company also aims to book
multiple billions of rupiah in reve-
nue. Michael believes that the use ofdrones is becoming more common in
Indonesia and he hopes to quadruple
the growth targeted by head office.
In general, as a developing coun-
try, Indonesia has robust growth in
construction projects that can be
effectively assisted by drone tech-
nology. But he says that if Indonesia
is to follow the trend in the global
commercial drone market the pri-
vate sector cannot do it alone. The
government must be supportive of
the technology and the market must
become better educated in trusting
the technology. More importantly, the
service providers must perform bet-
ter as there are too many cases where
drones simply crash or cannot deliveron clients’ expectations. This causes
skepticism among clients who revert
to conventional methods, eliminating
the advantage of drones in perform-
ing dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks.
In terms of competition, Terra
Drone Indonesia welcomes competi-
tors as more players will help educate
the market and Michael feels the
market is big enough for all.
“There are over 40 drone compa-
nies in Indonesia, both Indonesian
and foreign, and they have different
focuses from general to specific tasks.
I find that many of them operate only
on a local scale, only in their respec-
tive provinces. But Terra Drone In-
donesia performs on a national scale,
even internationally.”
The potential for drone services
is great across the country, especially
at the regional level, and Terra Drone
Indonesia currently serves as the
corporation’s hub in Southeast Asia.
Michael wants to make Terra Drone
Indonesia the major player in the
country, as the one-stop solution for
drone service provision. F“I believe that by joining forces, we
will be able to get technology access
across the globe.”AHMAD ZAMRONI FOR FORBES INDONESIA