Indonesia will next year order foreign providers of electronic transactions such as Research In Motion to build local data centres and may ultimately stop them operating if they fail to comply, a senior government official said on Friday. The aim of the communication ministry's planned regulation is to fight financial crime, particularly money laundering, and to reduce costs for consumers, communication ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa Broto said.
There are at least five million BlackBerry users in the world's fourth-largest country by population and they contribute about 5 percent of RIM'S total world market, according to a report by independent brokerage and investment group CLSA. RIM sees significant potential in Indonesia given the existence of a growing middle class that is hungry for new technology.
The company said last week it worked closely with government bodies in Indonesia and added it has "not been advised of any specific requirements extending beyond what it has already satisfied in writing" with the communications ministry. The government regulation was first mooted in 2008 and would apply to every provider of electronic transactions including cell network operators, banks and ticket sales by international airlines, Broto said.
"It's better for RIM to obey because Indonesia's government is not asking for much. The whole debate is so unnecessary," said Broto. Communication ministry officials met RIM representatives last week. The government says RIM promised in January it would build a data centre in north Jakarta but the company, which is listed in Canada, said last week it had built a router in Singapore. Prior to that, BlackBerry users were routed through Canada, which Broto said was costly for consumers.