Telecommunications Industry and Data Centers Call for Urgent Restructuring of the Digital Ecosystem

Jakarta Kartininews.com — The telecommunications and data center industries have highlighted the need to reorganize Indonesia’s national digital ecosystem to maintain industry health while strengthening the country’s position as a digital economy hub in the region.

This was raised during the Digital Ecosystem Alignment (DEAL) 2026 discussion session in Jakarta on Tuesday (23/6/2026), which featured Sarwoto Atmosutarno, Chairman of the Indonesian Telematics Society (Mastel), and Hendra Suryakusuma, Chairman of the Indonesia Data Center Provider (IDPRO).

Sarwoto stated that the development of internet services in Indonesia is the result of massive investments made by the private sector over decades. According to him, internet access has now become a basic societal need that closely resembles a public service.

He noted that mobile broadband penetration has exceeded the population, while the national internet penetration rate has reached approximately 81 percent.

This situation demonstrates the enormous role of the private sector in providing connectivity infrastructure, which has become an essential part of people’s lives and economic activities.

“When internet access begins to be positioned as a citizen’s right, we must recognize that the role of network operators and telecommunications service providers in delivering these services to the public has been very significant,” he said.

However, Sarwoto believes the telecommunications industry is facing business sustainability challenges due to the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

He argued that the industry structure formed since the birth of telecommunications regulations more than two decades ago needs to be evaluated to remain relevant to current digital ecosystem needs.

He emphasized that the government must pay attention to the health of the telecommunications industry, which has long served as the backbone of national connectivity development.

“What we need to think about now is how to maintain the sustainability and health of network operators and telecommunications service providers that have built Indonesia’s digital connectivity,” he said.

Sarwoto also highlighted external pressures on the industry, including the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate and high dependence on imported equipment and technology.

These conditions have caused investment and operational costs for the telecommunications industry to rise significantly, while the need to increase network capacity continues to grow in line with rising national data traffic.

He stressed that a comprehensive overhaul of the digital ecosystem must be carried out so that all businesses can continue to create added value and maintain service quality for the public.

He added that national bandwidth demand will continue to increase with the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital video services, and various data-based applications.

“Bandwidth has now become a strategic national need. Therefore, the sustainability of the industry that provides it must be a shared concern,” he said.

Meanwhile, IDPRO Chairman Hendra Suryakusuma said Indonesia is entering a phase of rapid growth in the data center industry, driven by economic digitalization and AI technology development.

According to him, national data center capacity has increased significantly in recent years.

When the association was first established about a decade ago, the data center capacity managed by its members was still around 32 megawatts (MW). Today, that capacity has grown to approximately 646 MW.

Nevertheless, Indonesia still lags behind several countries in Southeast Asia.

For comparison, Malaysia’s data center capacity has reached about 1.3 gigawatts (GW), or nearly twice that of Indonesia’s current capacity.

However, Hendra is optimistic that Indonesia has a strong opportunity to catch up. Based on industry projections, national data center capacity has the potential to increase to around 2.3 GW in the coming years — even faster than some previous forecasts.

“We see very aggressive data center growth in Indonesia. With the projects currently underway, national capacity has the potential to increase significantly in a relatively short time,” he said.

According to Hendra, AI development will be the main driver of national data center demand in the future.

He revealed that various industry simulations show Indonesia’s AI infrastructure needs could exceed 6 GW by 2030.

Three Main Factors

To meet these needs, three key factors require government attention:

First is energy availability. Currently, around 62 percent of national electricity supply still comes from fossil energy, while the global data center industry increasingly demands sustainable energy use.

Hendra noted that the massive power requirements for data centers and AI need mature energy planning and transmission networks.

“Energy availability is the biggest challenge for the data center industry because all AI development will ultimately depend on sufficient electricity supply,” he said.

The second factor is the availability of digital talent with the competence to manage next-generation data center infrastructure.

He explained that AI development brings major changes to data center design and operations — from cooling systems and power distribution to high-performance computing configurations.

Therefore, the industry needs accelerated development of human resources capable of managing these technologies.

IDPRO, Hendra added, is ready to collaborate with the government and educational institutions to accelerate the development of national data center and AI talent.

The third factor is fiscal incentive support

Hendra explained that data center development requires very large investments. For every 1 MW of capacity, the required investment ranges from US$9 million to US$11 million.

For AI infrastructure, investment needs can rise to around US$60 million per MW.

He added that these investment costs are further burdened by import duties and taxes on AI equipment, which reach about 23 percent.

Meanwhile, competing countries in the region such as Malaysia and Thailand have offered various fiscal incentives to attract data center and AI investments.

“If support for energy, talent, and fiscal incentives can be strengthened, Indonesia’s data center industry will grow much faster and be able to compete at the regional level,” he said.

The strengthening of the telecommunications and data center industries aligns with President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s Asta Cita vision, particularly in accelerating national digital transformation, strengthening technological sovereignty, enhancing innovation-based economic competitiveness, and building digital infrastructure capable of supporting sustainable economic growth toward Indonesia Emas 2045 (Golden Indonesia 2045).