On September 23, 2026, Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) opened a public consultation on a draft Ministerial Regulation establishing a General Plan for Mobile Broadband Digital Infrastructure Development. The draft maps every village and kelurahan into green, yellow and red deployment zones, makes joint planning between mobile operators and the ministry mandatory, and creates technical exemptions for microwave links and RLAN in underserved areas. Stakeholders have until October 5, 2026 to respond.
The consultation implements Article 96 of Law No. 13/2022, which amended Law No. 12/2011 on the formation of laws and regulations and requires public participation before a Permen is finalized. The plan is the operational instrument for the RPJMN 2025-2029 target of 98 percent mobile broadband population coverage by 2029, a goal on which Indonesia currently trails regional peers.
How does the village-level zoning framework allocate deployment roles?
The draft's central mechanism is a three-color zoning of every desa and kelurahan, based on commercial viability and existing infrastructure. Komdigi and mobile network operators share deployment responsibility differently in each zone, and joint planning between operators and the ministry becomes a standing obligation rather than an ad hoc arrangement.
| Zone | Definition | Operator role | Komdigi role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Commercially viable | Build and operate | Coordinate, monitor |
| Yellow | Needs facilitation to attract buildout | Build with incentives | Facilitate, temporary intervention in defined conditions |
| Red | Not commercially viable | Limited | Government intervention, temporary |
The red zone triggers temporary, direct government intervention, and the yellow zone allows it under specific conditions, so operators cannot assume a uniform build-versus-wait split across the country. The division of roles is the provision most likely to shift commercial viability for the four incumbent mobile network operators.
Which technical exemptions does the draft create for underserved zones?
To make yellow and red zone deployment feasible, the draft waives two technical rules that currently constrain site design. It exempts microwave link systems from the minimum distance between radio stations, and it permits the use of Radio Local Area Network (RLAN) equipment outside the standard technical and operational conditions set in existing regulations.
For radio equipment vendors managing SDPPI postel certification, this matters directly. Equipment deployed under these exemptions may fall outside the standard certification envelope, and the final Permen will determine whether a separate conformity route or a conditional approval applies. Vendor regulatory teams should map their microwave and RLAN product portfolios against the exemption language now, before the draft hardens into binding text.
Who must respond, and by when?
The consultation runs from September 22 to October 5, 2026, and comments go to the Directorate General of Digital Infrastructure by email. The directly affected actors are Indonesia's mobile network operators, Telkomsel, Indosat, XL Axiata and Smartfren, whose deployment obligations and commercial viability shift with the zoning split, plus radio equipment vendors holding or seeking SDPPI postel certification for microwave and RLAN kit. The consultation notice is published on the SDPPI site, and the draft regulation with its annexes is downloadable from Komdigi's resource portal. Non-submission leaves the zoning and exemption rules to be set without a given operator's or vendor's input.
What happens after October 5, 2026?
Beyond zoning, the draft fixes four operating mechanics. It sets coverage and access-speed indicators as the reference for planning and service-quality evaluation. It defines a mechanism to update the plan as village potential and infrastructure achievements change. It establishes a digital infrastructure coordination forum spanning relevant ministries, local governments and industry players. And it frames the funding, supervision and control of execution.
Once comments are absorbed, Komdigi finalizes the Permen and promulgates it in the Berita Negara, after which it takes effect. The zoning map and indicator thresholds will likely be refined in annexes and implementing director-general regulations, so the consultation text is not the last reading.
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Compliance and network deployment teams should take three steps now. First, confirm whether your service areas fall into yellow or red zones under the draft mapping, since that drives your build obligations and the government intervention boundary. Second, review your microwave link and RLAN equipment against the proposed exemptions and flag any certification gap to your SDPPI authorized representative. Third, file a written response by October 5, 2026 if the zoning split or exemption scope changes your deployment economics. Continuous per-jurisdiction monitoring, the kind Obsidian runs, surfaces a consultation the day it publishes, while a written response is still an option.
