A History of Indonesian Telecommunication Reform 1999-2006

This study examines the effect of Indonesia´s telecommunications policy on Internet access and the digital divide. The study finds that current government policy had minimal impact on Internet access. Policies of privatization and depoliticization should be fully adopted alongside the current policy of liberalization. These policies could lessen government intervention in both regulation and in corporate telecom ownership, and create a more stable, competitive telecom sector. The Telecommunications Act of 1999 signaled a new effort by the government to attend to telecom market reforms, but continuous political wrangling hindered reform implementation. While ethnic clashes and political instability hold Indonesia on the brink of a crisis, further reform policies could encourage the country to move forward. A conceptual framework exemplifies a triangular relationship between the government, service providers, and users. Data used in the study are based on government statistics, company-published information, the world telecommunications indicators database, and secondary sources