Internet users in Indonesia will remain in big cities: Govt

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 07/04/2008 4:19 PM  |  Sci-Tech

The government admitted Friday most Internet users across the country would remain in big cities despite an effort to raise the current 30 million users to 50 million users by the end of this
year.

Communication and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh said villagers would follow suit when they realize the need of Internet.

Nuh said the government had planned to provide cheap laptops worth US$200 to boost the Internet user number in the country. (***)
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Philip B (not verified) — Sun, 08/17/2008 - 8:08pm

I believe Jan Akkerman's internet woes are with TelkomselFLASH and not "Telkom". I recently started an account with TelkomselFLASH and quite frankly, it was hopeless! I canceled my account in less than a week.

On a more positive note, I have renewed my Telkom Speedy account, (it was temporarily unavailable in my area) and I have to say that the new service is a big improvement on the past, with increased speed. And their price hasn't changed!

Sammy (not verified) — Sat, 08/16/2008 - 7:52pm

Internet, for me, is a great library and is needed everywhere for decentralising public information.

People ,especially in rural area, need internet coverage because the education/media/information facilities such as schools and libraries are not as advanced as in big cities. Internet, at least, would cover this gap of knowledge/information. And I dont need to say the benefit of free communication (i.e. skype).

Following suits for internet installation would be cumbersome. We all know how the gov'mnt works. And because internet is only covered for big cities, i can assume that cheap laptops are for people in big cities. There is no need for subsidies for that, they can buy it themselves, Sir.

Henry (not verified) — Thu, 08/07/2008 - 1:57am

Unfortunately Internet access in Indonesia is the worst worldwide. Extremely slow en expensive. In the near future I see not a real progress. Perhaps Wimax proofs to be a technology that can be used in Indonesia. There are enough mobile phone poles to attach Wimax access points. But then it would still take many years before normal working class people can afford internet access. I am especially unhappy because I can't communicate by internet with my Balinese family :(

Jan Akkerman (not verified) — Sun, 07/27/2008 - 2:23pm

Of course it stays in the cities pricing of internet connections is sky high latest news on this should be addressed by the Jakarta Post:

Telkom Flash I pay 570.000 per month inc tax for unlimited access including modem they call that volume based service at a dazzling speed, broadband. Forget it I get only modem speeds and have to use the time based option in their software to get full speed but again have to pay 350 Rupiah per minute to get this done! And on volume 50% of the web sites on the WWW are blocked by Telkom if you use volume based, back to time based everythin normal again and sure I pay for this again 350 Rupiah per minute on top of my monthly bill! THey are just stealing money from the public. Try to call customer service! What a joke you wont get connected and if you do after 600 calls they throw you out as they don't speak English!!! WHAT A BIG JOKE AND WHAT A CRIMINALS TO STEAL MONEY THIS WAY! JAKARTA POST DO SOMETHING AND WRITE ABOUT THIS!!!

Spitfire — Mon, 08/18/2008 - 2:33pm

By "Telkom Flash", you are referring to "Telkomsel Flash" and NOT Telkom, the latter offering services such as Telkom Speedy.

I sympathize with your woes using Telkomsel Flash. I was a new customer of theirs recently and had to pull the plug after less than one week. It was a totally frustrating experience trying to get it to work "properly" and when it did, the speed was much slower than advertised and like yourself, about 30% of web-sites wouldn't load at all.

I switched back to Telkom Speedy's new and vastly improved service. I was forced to cancel a previous account with them because I'd moved to a new house and Speedy wasn't available there, yet. The new service runs pretty well for me, so far, with download speeds of up to 1Mbs and uploads 128Kbs. Even better, the pricing hasn't changed.

Radu Tomescu (not verified) — Sun, 07/20/2008 - 12:27pm

My bet for generalized mobile Internet access in Indonesia is on wireless internet.
Five years from now it may very well be that the many folks in rural Indonesia will use their mobile handsets as primary Internet access devices. All major Operators are planning for it. The reason: they don;t need to spend on new DSL infrastructure; instead they upgrades their existing wireless infrastructure. As handset prices decrease, a 200K Rupiah handset will compete with a 200K computer.You get a smaller screen and cumbersome input but gain mobility. If you really need, at times, computer Internet access, then you go to the local Internet caffe.

-root- (not verified) — Sat, 07/05/2008 - 2:45am

the government has done a good job of socializing internet by 'banning online porn' polemic - so media will cover it. people have known internet by their curiosity of 'banning online porn'.

likely this article is on the purpose of allocating some budget for 'laptops for villagers' program instead of really boosting internet user number. many 'warnet' available to this day, down to 'village' level.

also, what use a laptop if there is no infrastructure to connect the village to the internet.

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