The Indonesian government plans to issue a regulation requiring telecommunications companies to set aside 20% of their capital expenditure to buy local products.

The new regulation, to be effective next year, is expected to boost the domestic industry, Post and Telecommunications director general Basuki Yusuf Iskandar said.

Iskandar said the domestic industry has gained little from the thriving telecommunications industry over the past several years.

He said telecommunication products produced in the country have a foreign content of 90%.

The official said the country's telecommunications market, excluding handsets, was valued at $2.5 billion this year and most of the spending is for imports of networks equipment produced by foreign vendors.

© Asia Pulse

upay ¶ 4:07 PM //