Indonesia is ranked 68th on the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2009 e-readiness index.
E-readiness is a measure of the quality of a country’s information and communications technology infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit.
Indonesia had 3.7 fixed telephone lines per 100 people in 2008. However, coverage is greater than these figures suggest, thanks to the 220,000 wartel (telephone kiosks).
The inadequacy of fixed-line provision has led to rapid growth in mobile phone subscriptions. Indonesia reportedly overtook Japan in 2008 to become Asia’s third largest mobile phone market with a total of 140.2m connections.
Private involvement and investment in the sector has meant that it is more competitive and dynamic than its fixed-line competitor.
The mobile network offers Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) code division multiple access (CDMA) technologies.
Personal computer (PC) and internet penetration is also low, although rising rapidly. In 2008 there were just 14 PCs per 1,000 people while internet penetration in 2009 was 12.5 percent, a 1400 percent increase on 2000.
Telecommunications researchers Paul Budde Communication say the number of Internet users in Indonesia was estimated at just over 26 million by early 2010 - a relatively low overall penetration of 11 percent.
“At the same time, the Internet subscription market was generally depressed with less than 7 million subscribers reported by early 2010. Broadband Internet access, whilst certainly increasing, was at a relatively low level of activity, with subscriptions running at around 18 percent of the total Internet subscriber base.”
(Additional source Economist Intelligence Unit)
