Indonesia Telecommunications Regulation

Telecommunications sector has been providing various services for both civilians and businessmen using a wide variety of technologies and in any media format (chat, voice, picture, data etc.). The dependency of today’s generation towards the industry for communication purposes has made it a world-wide necessity. One that really stood out among the different telecommunication sectors across the globe is the regularization of the system of Indonesian telecommunications.

What makes Indonesian telecommunications stand out is because of the increasing number of subscribers, ranking it 6^th in the world. Mobile phones have also doubled the population of the archipelago, the 4^th in the world. Moreover, the competition among privatized and government telecommunications network has becoming fiercer by the minute. More than ten operators are now being considered in the run for providing better services.

Ideally, the telecommunications sector competition among these operators ought to be studied at a level where the focus is the demand and supply. However, the competition in the country has been affecting the quality of the service since data is constrained and limited to leading cities and islands such Jakarta and some parts of Java, Sumatra and Bali raising complaints and mistrust by those living in rural areas.

Telecommunications regulations in the archipelago are being monitored by the government. Through the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, rules and laws are being implemented with the overall control of policies despite the privatization of two of the leading telecommunications providers Telkomsel and Indosat.

Reviewing back the time when telecommunications were introduced in the country, the government was the ones who once owned it. Since the government lacks enough budget and has no sufficient projects for the development of the sector, plans to semi privatize the industry had been agreed upon.

In the recent years, privatization is a growing trend. While the other two in the top three providers are semi-owned by the government, XL Axiata, the second top with the most subscribers, is completely under privately-owned Axiata Group of Companies and is operating in its own accord only in adherence to the laws of telecommunications. Any other developmental move and policies has been a sole responsibility of the company such as the affiliation with the top ranking mobile data provider, Axis Capital Group and selling some of its towers to PT Solusi Petronas last 2014.

Indonesian telecommunications regulation continues to compete to that of other developing countries. More has been developed but much still needs development.