The Indonesian Ministry of Economy recently publicly announced its goal to increase “meaningful” broadband penetration by 30% by 2014.  The goal is optimistic; Internet penetration was 12.3% in 2010, only 18% of which was broadband, making broadband penetration around 2.2% of the population.

In the Jakarta Declaration for Meaningful Broadband released on April 14, 2011, a collection of government and private industry ICT leaders in the Indonesia agreed on the goal to bring “meaningful” broadband access – affordable, usable, and empowering – from under 3% to a ten-fold increase of 30% within three years.  This “big push” for broadband penetration is founded on a US$9.2 billion plan.  The plan includes $4.3 billion public-private partnership (PPP) funding allocation, linking PT Telecom’s fibre optic cable to “last mile” initiatives to connect rural, more isolated areas.  According to estimates, Elizabeth Aris, expert on National Broadband Networks, states that such a PPP would leave costs at “$3 a month per consumer.”

Critics of the fund claim that Indonesia has more pressing needs, that broadband should be left entirely to the private sector, and that Indonesia’s goal is implausible.  The Meaningful Broadband Working Group is not deterred, however.  Craig Smith, former Harvard Professor and current director of the Investment Group Against the Digital Divide, explains that the Indonesian government has set specific goals to minimize the gap in income inequality, but additional goals to increase GDP.

“The problem with GDP growth is that it only benefits the wealthy.  So, the government says let’s use broadband that could create equitable growth… The problem is that they did not understand the critical mass of broadband… is important to require the equitable growth,” Smith said.  In other words, broadband penetration is an economic equalizer as well as accelerator, but only when large investments into IT infrastructure are made.