2014 has officially passed us by. Yes, it’s true that there were tons of positive milestones written during last year, but 2015 will mark the real boom of tech industry in Indonesia. There are at least three catalysts that will turn this prediction into reality.

4G/LTE

Let’s agree that the LTE technology that has been tested by a number of operators in Indonesia was not the true 4G; it was the LTE release – 8 which only fulfills the 3GPP specification, not the IMT-advanced specification. Nonetheless, the end of last year was a feast, as three giant operators in Indonesia, which were XL Axiata, Indosat, and Telkomsel, finally introduced the true 4G/LTE technology.

Even though there is still few customers using this technology, it may boost the consumption of data and digital content among the haves in big cities in Indonesia. All this time, those millenials indeed are the main target of many Internet companies.

E-Commerce

Last year marked the third successful National Online Shopping Day in a row, indicating that Indonesians have been more and more accustomed to the e-commerce industry. This is reflected from the number of participants which increases steadily from year to year; last year’s event saw 80 e-commerce companies participated.

There are certainly challenges to the growth of this industry, but as time goes by, there would definitely be startups coming to solve the problem perfectly.

ASEAN Free Trade

The implementation of ASEAN Free Trade program brings more opportunities to Indonesian companies to expand their businesses abroad as well as to neighboring countries’ companies to come and plant their money in Indonesia. The World Bank’s data published in 2005 and 2011, which showed that the “Computer, Information, Communications and Others” industry dominated the trade activities between ASEAN countries, emphasizes that it’s about time for Indonesia to be regarded as the new superpower in Southeast Asia.

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Question is, are you ready for the AFTA 2015? If not, you better start rebuilding your strategy to win the market, not only nationally, but also regionally and, some time later, globally.