Currently, many Indonesians do not use a mobile phone which is suitable for Internet use, and there are still considerable differences between urban and rural areas. In the big cities especially, a smartphone is the number one status symbol to have. Anyone who can afford it would buy one. In the countryside, the LTE (4G) mobile network coverage has improved tremendously, and mobile penetration rates have reached more than 80 percent. However, due to a lack of economic opportunities, many living in rural areas simply cannot afford one. For mobile internet users, communication and social network apps seems to be popular mobile apps.
Local telecom providers, as well as the producers of smartphones, stand to benefiting from this. As of November 2020, Samsung was the leading mobile vendor in Indonesia, with about 26.16 percent of market share, followed by Xiaomi and Oppo, two smartphone producers from China. Since those three companies produce their devices based on Android, Google’s OS accounted for over 90 percent of the market share of mobile operating system in the country. When it comes to the mobile network, the market seems to be a lot more competitive. Telkomsel, Indosat, as well as XL were some of the major market players in terms of mobile subscribers, but with the expected growth, it could just be a matter of time until Hutchinson or Smart Telecom will catch up.
