2011, Indonesia Cell Subscribers Hit 240 Mn

The number of subscribers exceeds the number of Indonesia’s population.

Data from the Indonesian Cellular Telecommunication Association Data (ATSI) shows that voice and text services penetration among the nation’s cellular users has increased to 110 percent.

Until the end of 2011, the number of cellular users in Indonesia has reached more than 240 million subscribers with the majority of 95 percent coming from pre-paid subscribers.

“The number of voice talk usage reached 180 billion minutes of talk time,” said Sarwoto Atmosutarno, President of ATSI in Jakarta, on Jan 13. “The number of text messages sent reached 260 billion text units, and data transaction reached 27 thousand terabyte,” he said.

From the average income per subscriber (ARPU), telecommunication operators only get an average of Rp20,000 per month. However, Sarwoto said that in reality the number of subscribers exceeds the number of Indonesia’s population; therefore mobile broadband will be the main business for telecommunication industry.

ATSI predicted that 2012 will also be a year of data service. Sarwoto said that it can be seen from the rise of data and broadband subscribers. Data service has surged by more than 100 percent while broadband subscribers have reached 70 million users.

The rise of income from data services, he said, is supported by infrastructure development, that is a rise in Base Transceiver Station (BTS). Out of 97 thousand BTS, around 22 thousand were BTS node B (3G).

“Armed with 2011 data, the telecommunication industry will focus on data and broadband services. ATSI encourages cellular operators to develop a variety of data-related innovation, or value added services,” he said.