Indonesia\'s broadband subscriber penetration is extremely low at less than 0.2%, considering that it has a population of 240 million, the world\'s fourth-largest. The fact that the country is made up of thousands of islands makes the laying of fixed broadband infrastructure expensive and time consuming.
Mobile broadband technology offers much more flexibility and is less labor intensive, which makes it much cheaper and easier to deploy. Telkomsel, Indosat and Excelcom -- the top three mobile operators -- have already launched high-speed packet access (HSPA) mobile internet access. Two CDMA2000 operators, Mobile 8 and Smart Telecom, have also recently tapped into the mobile broadband market with EV-DO Rev A technology under the brand names "Mobi" and "Jump," respectively.
According to the GSM Association, the number of mobile broadband (HSPA) connections in Indonesia has surpassed that of fixed broadband connections. Data from Wireless Intelligence show that at the end of 2007, just a year after the launch of HSPA in Indonesia, there were 315,000 mobile broadband connections compared to 300,000 for fixed broadband.
It is expected that end-users will benefit from the intense competition among operators to offer broadband services as data plan tariffs are seen to decrease while a wider range of data devices will be available at lower prices as providers gradually build up economies of scale.
However, the scarcity of spectrum may impede the takeoff of mobile broadband in Indonesia. Currently, 3G operators in Indonesia have been granted the 5- to 10-MHz spectrum only. The need for allocation of additional spectrum is obviously imperative.