Heaptalk, Jakarta — The newly appointed Minister of Communication and Informatics Budi Arie Setiadi inaugurated the opening of the Digital Transformation Indonesia Conference and Expo (DTI-CX) 2023 at the Grand Ballroom of the JIExpo Convention Center Theatre, Jakarta (07/26).
DTI-CX is a dedicated event to connect tech providers with crucial industry sectors in driving digital transformation in the country by carrying out the theme ‘Achieving sustainable economy growth through digital transformation’. Held for two days, this event is a collaboration between PT Adhouse Clarion Events and the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo), the Indonesian Telematics Society (Mastel), and the Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers (APJII).
Minister Budi revealed that global data flows are estimated to reach 328.77 billion gigabytes every day. From this figure, it is projected that there will be an annual data volume increase of 23.71% in 2023, from 97 trillion gigabytes in 2022 to 120 trillion gigabytes throughout 2023 based on the Statista 2023 study.
“Recognizing this, we realize that digital transformation is a priority agenda both at the global and national levels by taking into account several factors such as the exponential increment in network requirements, the increasing number of digital devices connected to the internet, the rising number of people connected to the internet, accelerating business growth triggered by the disruption of digital technology, and the huge potential for added value to the economy driven by digital technology,” he explained.
About 22% of Indonesia’s population has no access to the internet
Additionally, the momentum of digitalization in Indonesia can also be seen from digital spending which has increased drastically from only US$6 billion or Rp92 trillion in 2016 to US$61 billion or Rp944 trillion in 2021. Therefore, Budi urges all parties that the urgency of digital transformation needs to be encouraged and accelerated together.
Budi further added, “Downstreaming the use of technology can be carried out through programs that can directly impact multiple sectors including by adopting digital technology for MSMEs, optimizing the potential of digital startups or startups, as well as developing a digital society that is capable and reliable in a comprehensive manner in 3 proficiency level, elementary, intermediate to advanced level.”
Meanwhile, APJII survey results show that internet users in Indonesia have reached 78% or around 215 million people in 2022. This number has grown by around 50 million compared to 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There is still a gap of 22% of our people who have not received internet access. Surely, this requires multi-stakeholder cooperation. This is a good forum to bring us together. Hopefully next year it will be almost 90%. This is APJII’s mission to equalize internet access. Our main target is solving infrastructure issues,” said APJII chairman Muhammad Arif.
In line with this, Mastel Chairman Sarwoto Atmosutarno emphasized the importance of accelerating digital transformation as data shows that the GMV of the digital economy has reached nearly $172 billion. “We want the contribution of the digital economy to be more than 10%. Today it is still below 10%. If we can boost it to 20%, this is close to the OECD standard as a country with a digitalized economy. We will pursue this together,” Sarwoto concluded.
