Build Network or Lose License, Indonesia Telecom Minister Says
- Only four carriers should exist by 2019, Rudiantara says
- Indonesia's wireless market dominated by three companies
A PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) technician performs maintenance work to power cables on a post in Medan, North Sumatra province, Indonesia, on Tuesday, April 7, 2015. For President Joko Widodo, a plan to build a $4 billion Japanese-Indonesian coal-fired power station presents a dilemma. He needs the electricity from new plants to power factories that would fuel growth and help rebalance the economy away from natural resources. At the same time, he needs to avoid alienating farmers and poor Indonesians who swept him into office last year.
Photographer: Dimas Ardian/BloombergIndonesia’s telecommunications minister warned he could revoke most of the nation’s 10 mobile-phone licenses unless carriers merge or build out networks able to provide wireless Internet services.
"Each permit has requirements for the operator to invest and to build, so if they don’t build anything, I can revoke their permit," Minister of Communications and Information Technology Rudiantara, who was an executive at the nation’s two biggest carriers before joining the government, said in an interview last week.