Indonesians really like cell phones. According to Singapore-based social media marketing agency We Are Social, there are 308.2 million active cell phones in Indonesia, even though our total population is about 250 million people. So there are about 1.2 cell phones for every person in Indonesia, which makes sense considering how often we see people carrying 2 or even 3 cell phones around here.
However, only about 25% of cell phone users in Indonesia have smartphones – the vast majority still use basic 2G feature phones as the price of smartphones are simply out of reach for many middle and lower class consumers.
But the government is hoping to see a huge surge in users upgrading to 4G capable smartphones within the next 3-4 years. One way the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Menkominfo) is hoping to encourage that is to push for a tax on 2G phones.
Menkominfo Minister Rudiantara said his ministry supported the tax, which was first proposed by the Indonesian Cellular Telecommunications Associations (ATSI).
“I think the Finance Ministry will be fine with it, as their tax revenues will increase [if the proposal turns into a regulation],” Rudiantara told the Jakarta Post.
The Menkominfo head also said that he expects 4g capable phones to continue to drop in price, falling to as little as Rp 400,000 in the next 3-4 years, making them available to a much larger market.
Rudiantara said it was very important for the government to push the population to move from 2G to 4G. In addition to increasing general productivity, he said 4G networks are much more efficient in terms of frequency resources, and that 4G cell bases could cover much larger areas than older relays.
