A recent research by KPCB states that Indonesia is on the top 10 countries with the biggest 3G subscriber, in fact Indonesia is on the #10 between Brazil and Poland. US is still at the #1 spot followed by Japan each with 179 mn and 117 mn subscriber respectively.

With 27mn subscriber, Indonesia is on the 10th place with Brazil (28 mn) on the 9th spot and Poland (26 mn) on the 11th. And not just that, the annual growth for Indonesia is pretty impressive (40%) although it’s nothing compared to India (more than 1000%), China (172%), Turkey (100%) and Brazil (79%). An interesting fact that the 3G subscriber growth in Indonesia is relatively slow compared to the fact that currently we only have 12% of the entire population connected via 3G.

Another fact from this report is that the number of smartphones globally reaches 835 mn devices, while the non-smartphone available is soaring high at 5.6 bn handsets. This shows the potential low-end market that can’t be ignored, even though we’ve debated that the gap between smartphone and non-smartphone in the future will become non-existent. I think it’s time for the industry to start taking this non-smartphone market seriously.

With 12% penetration rate for 3G subcsriber, Indonesia already attract interest for local and foreign investors. If this number can increase to 20%, then it’ll probably spark the digital mobile industry even more. The role of government and private sector is crucial to build up the number and open a chance for Indonesia to lead in the digital and mobile industry.