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Internet adoption slows in Indonesia
The number of internet users continued to increase last year but at a slower pace than in 2019.
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A student attends an online class at an internet cafe in Yogyakarta in this undated photo. (Courtesy/Kitabisa)
T
he number of internet users in Indonesia is still increasing, but recent data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) shows a declining rate in the number of new users.
The agency’s 2020 Telecommunications Statistics report shows that, for the first time, more than half of the population, more specifically 53.73 percent, accessed the internet last year, up from 47.69 percent in 2019.
However, the speed of internet adoption has declined. From 2019 to 2020, the number of new users increased by 6.04 percentage points. From 2018 to 2019, the number had gone up 7.79 percentage points.
“I think this is because the baseline number of internet users is already high, so there will not be a spike this year,” Indonesian Internet Provider's Association (APJII) chairman Muhammad Arif Angga said on Thursday.
Indonesia remains well behind neighboring countries in terms of internet penetration, with Singapore and Malaysia having reached rates of 75.9 percent and 89.6 percent, respectively.
Arif said that to increase the number of users, internet service providers and the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) should increase network penetration and educate the public on internet use, especially in areas that do not have internet connectivity.
“We need the collaboration of all stakeholders, basically,” he added.
