Indonesian Interesting Internet Facts in 2010

We can analyze the data from several angles.

For, Unlimited Internet subscriber fee, in the year 2000, for 64Kbps it costs US$400 per month. It had driven the neighbourhood network & cybercafe using wifi outdoor. In the year 2000, most of the neighbourhood network charged at US$5-20/month. In the year 2004, for 384Kbps it costs US$90 per month in big cities. PC & Laptop are more available, it turned down cybercafe business quite a bit, but still turned on neighbourhood network installation in many areas. Today, in 2010, for 1-3Mbps costs US$4-10 per month especially in Jakarta.

It seems the formal telecommunication operators try to compete its pricing strategies with the lower price community based network. Today, especially in Jakarta, the low priced Internet access at US$4-10 has really turned down both cybercafe and neighbourhood networks unless they differentiate their business focus.

In the year 2000, most of the access done via dial-up at 56Kbps. WiFi was becoming alternative access method at 11Mbps. In the year 2004, ADSL at 384Kbps was deployed. WiFi was still an alternative access method at max. speed 54Mbps. Today, especially in Jakarta, ADSL runs at 3Mbps, 3G & EVDO runs at 3-4Mbps. It is quite competitive environment in big cities for community based WiFi infrastructure. Unfortunately, broadband infrastructure is not readily available in the municipalities and remote areas. In these areas, Outdoor WiFi is still a solution.

Today, cybercafes, in big cities especially in Jakarta, are more rely on young & students market those who have limited access to PC. However, as soon as netbook price reaches US$100 or less, it reaches the price of a good handphone today, cybercafe business may likely to be doomed if it only rely on Internet Access. However, it seems cyberfaces will likely to transform into game online service as its primary service to be able to survive. This seems to be the trend in the past 4-5 years.

Interestingly, in provinces, in municipalities, and remote areas where access Internet still rare, community based network such as neighbourhood network and cybercafe is still booming.

Data from Indonesian ISP Association, in1999, there are one (1) million internet users. Today, 2010, there are 45 million users. In 1999, there are 100.000 internet subscribers to the ISP. Today, there are 6 million subscribers to the ISP. The Internet subscribers are the one who subscribe to the Internet access via the ISP. It can be personal account, office, cybercafe or even neighbourhood network. However, as noted clearly from the statistics most of the Indonesian Internet users are not subscribe to ISP, they may access via cybercafe, neighbourhood network, community based network. The statistics suggested that the community network is much larger today than in 1999.

Talking to the vendor of wifi outdoor equipments before the liberation of 2.4GHz, in January 2005, the monthly sales of wifi outdoor equipments is quite low around 2000+ device / month. After the liberation, the sales is significantly increased to around 4000-6000 unit / month. Today, it may be more than 10.000 unit / month from various vendors. The major sales in not in Jakarta, it is in the middle and eastern Java, Bali, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi and Eastern Indonesia the remote areas.

To give some idea on the Internet traffic in Indonesia, there are more than 25 million online media regular visitors every day! much larger than the Indonesian Internet subscribers. The total bandwidth is 25 Gbit/s aggregate national Internet Exchange and 45 Gbit/s to International.

Another interesting facts, based on http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/, Indonesia is no 3 on Facebook with 27.5 million subscriber. Based on http://semiocast.com/pr/20100701/Asia_first_Twitter_region it seems, Indonesia ranks the 3rd in contributing tweets in Twitter after U.S. and Japan.

Pranala Menarik

• Sejarah Internet Indonesia