Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a significant role in the lives of Indonesian people. ICT is able to drive work efficiency, open inclusive access, facilitate business operations, and encourage technology-based economic progress.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) compiles the ICT Development Index based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) benchmark. This index illustrates the development of ICT in Indonesia, with a scale of 0-10 points. The higher the index value, the higher the ICT development.
In its report, BPS stated that ICT development has shown positive progress in the last five years. In 2022, the ICT index reached 5.85 points. This figure increased slightly by 0.09 points from 2021, which scored 5.76 points.
Overall, BPS mentioned that the increase in the index over five years reached 0.78 points. The largest year-on-year increase in the index value occurred in 2019-2020, from 5.32 points to 5.59 points, or an increase of 0.27 points.
"This period marks the initial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Policies to prevent the spread of Covid-19 encouraged people to stay at home and conduct activities online, making ICT equipment such as mobile phones and the internet a crucial necessity at that time," wrote BPS in the *2022 Information and Communication Technology Development Index* report.
BPS added that, in terms of position, Indonesia's ICT development is categorized as moderate, indicated by its index value in the 5 range out of a scale of 10. BPS believes that various policies still need to be implemented to achieve optimal ICT development.
The ICT Development Index is built from three sub-indices: ICT access and infrastructure; ICT usage; and ICT skills.
"All three sub-indices improved from 2021 to 2022. The ICT usage sub-index experienced the highest increase," said BPS.
Specifically, ICT access and infrastructure scored 5.80 points in 2022, up 0.04 points from 5.76 in 2021.
ICT usage obtained 5.82 points, up 0.16 points from 5.66 points in 2021.
Meanwhile, ICT skills reached 6.00 points, up 0.03 points from 5.97 points in 2021.