President Jokowi and his administration are on a mission to create a new Indonesia, one that will transform Southeast Asia's largest economy into a truly global player. It's ambitious but certainly not impossible.

In a statement issued by the Cabinet Secretariat of The Republic of Indonesia (SEKTAB), Jokowi explained there are three major steps to achieving this: improve infrastructure, develop processing industries based on the country's own raw material reserves and grow service industries, which includes encouraging lifestyle and online industries.

There's no doubt things are moving in the right direction. In Q1 2018, telecommunications giant, Telkomsel built almost 7,000 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) across the country, which facilitates wireless systems using a 4G network.

In a recent report published by Antaranews Bali, Telkomsel President Director Ririek Adriansyah said: "We remain focused on developing the digital ecosystem among others by continuously rolling out network infrastructure aggressively, especially base stations based on 'mobile broadband' technology."    

He went on to say Telkomsel is focused on building a productive and constructive digital ecosystem based on equipment, networks and applications and in Q1 of 2018 the business grew by almost 25% over the same period last year.

The use of data services or "payload" has increased by a dramatic 145% compared to Q1 2017.  Ririek said there were more than 167,000 BTS throughout Indonesia before Q1 of 2018, serving more than 108 million subscribers, 55 million of which are 4G customers.

According to Antaranews Bali, there has also been over 60% growth for digital services by an increasing use of video, music, games and other value-added services such as advertising, T-cash payments, banking services and the "Internet of Things."      

Developing Indonesia's digital ecosystem is a crucial step in developing Smart Cities and supporting the government's objectives to become the world's 4th largest economy. "We encourage Indonesian youth to become the leading drivers of digital developments in the country," Ririek said, adding that it triggers the birth of various solutions that can increase productivity and encourage various economic, social, and cultural changes in society.

Sources: Antaranews Bali, Cabinet Secretariat of The Republic of Indonesia - SEKTAB

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