Three Thousand Indonesian Villages Lacked Cellular Signal in 2023: Here's Their Distribution

A report from Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that several areas in Indonesia still lack cellular phone signal coverage.

In 2023, 3.70%, or 3,117 villages/districts in Indonesia, were not covered by cellular signals.

Broken down by province, the highest number of villages/sub-districts without signal coverage was in Papua Pegunungan, with a total of 1,458 villages/sub-districts.

Next was Papua Tengah with 632 villages/sub-districts still lacking access to cellular signals.

Here is a complete list of the top 10 provinces with the highest number of villages/sub-districts without cellular signal coverage nationally as of 2023:

1. Papua Pegunungan: 1,458 villages/sub-districts
2. Papua Tengah: 632 villages/sub-districts
3. North Sumatra: 140 villages/sub-districts
4. West Papua: 131 villages/sub-districts
5. Papua: 106 villages/sub-districts
6. South Papua: 95 villages/sub-districts
7. Central Kalimantan: 65 villages/sub-districts
8. Southwest Papua: 65 villages/sub-districts
9. Aceh: 53 villages/sub-districts
10. West Sulawesi: 52 villages/sub-districts

Meanwhile, eight provinces have achieved 100% cellular signal coverage in all their villages/districts. These provinces are Lampung, Bangka Belitung Islands, Riau Islands, Jakarta, Yogyakarta Special Region, Banten, Bali, and West Nusa Tenggara.

Regarding telecommunications infrastructure, 46,131 villages/sub-districts had Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) built in 2023. Another 38,145 villages/sub-districts lacked BTS.