ICT

The vibrancy of Indonesia’s digital economy is evident in the ubiquity of the green-uniformed Go-jek and Grab delivery drivers navigating via mobile device through its streets. Indonesia has the largest and fastest-growing ICT market in South-east Asia, and presents an enticing opportunity for investors thanks to demographic and macroeconomic factors, particularly as the government presses on with omnibus laws to reform a host of financial, investment, labour and tax regulations. Challenges include an uncertain macroeconomic environment weighed down by the Covid-19 pandemic, and an undefined regulatory and legal framework under which cybercrime threatens to undermine confidence and trust. However, these issues are not insurmountable, and longstanding government plans to improve internet and mobile data service provision across the country are coming to fruition, in tandem with the evolution of a dynamic digital services ecosystem steered by homegrown unicorns and supported by a thriving market for ancillary services. This chapter contains interviews with Johnny Plate, Minister of Communication and Information Technology; and Ming Maa, President, Grab.