Indonesian mobile phone ownership surged 68% in the last decade.

The high number of internet users in Indonesia is inseparable from the rapid development of mobile phones in the last decade. According to a report by the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), there has been an increase in mobile phone usage from 2011 to 2021.

In 2021, the percentage of the Indonesian population owning a mobile phone was recorded at approximately 65.87%.

This figure surged by about 68% compared to a decade earlier. In 2011, the percentage of the Indonesian population owning a mobile phone only reached 39.19%.

According to the BPS, the average annual increase in the percentage of the population owning a mobile phone from 2011 to 2021 was 2.53%.

By province, DKI Jakarta recorded the highest national percentage of residents owning mobile phones, at 81.83%. This was followed by East Kalimantan and Riau Islands, at 81.10% and 80.51% respectively.

Meanwhile, the province with the lowest national percentage of residents owning mobile phones was Papua, at only 38.94%.

When viewed by area classification, the average growth of mobile phone ownership in rural areas was higher, at 2.77%, compared to urban areas at 2.09%.

"This shows the strong penetration of mobile phones even into remote rural areas," according to a quote from the BPS report on Wednesday (September 7, 2022).