News

Internet kiosks past their prime in Indonesia, report shows

October 27, 2002

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- In the late 1990s, many Indonesians saw Internet kiosks as a way to bridge the digital divide and make a little money. Now kiosk owners are counting their losses as the market is far past its heyday, according to The Jakarta Post.

"My business is still running, but the income is barely enough to buy new computers to replace old or broken ones," said 25-year-old Suharta, who launched his Internet kiosk in 1999 for Rp 50 million (about US$5,400).

Data from the Indonesian Internet Kiosks Association shows that as of 2001, there were 2,500 Internet kiosks in the country, down from 6,000 in 1999.

The slump is one effect of the slowdown in the country's number of Internet users, according to the newspaper. The Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association claims the number of Internet users is expected to grow only slightly, to 5 million from last year's 4.2 million.

The high cost of communications is also contributing to the slowdown, according to the paper. The government increased telephone rates up to 21 percent this year as part of a 45 percent phone hike during the next three years. Many of the Internet kiosks rely on direct telephone connections.