Indonesia’s Telkom blocks Netflix

JAKARTA. State-owned telecommunications and internet provider Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) has blocked Netflix from all of its platforms starting Wednesday at midnight because of a permit issue and its unfiltered contents.

The US-based streaming video service has been blocked on all Telkom platforms, namely IndiHome, WiFi.id and Telkomsel, Telkom’s director of consumers Dian Rachmawan told thejakartapost.com.

“We block Netflix as of Jan. 27 at midnight. The issue is about the permit. They don’t follow the rules. They also display violence and adult contents,” he said on Wednesday in Jakarta.

Netflix should cooperate with fixed broadband in Indonesia, such as IndiHome, Dian said. By cooperation with a local internet provider, Netflix’s content can be filtered properly following the regulations in Indonesia.

He pointed out the cooperation that Netflix has already undertaken with Singtel in Singapore and with Telecom in Italy. Without such cooperation, the Vietnamese government has planned to block Netflix.

“We must do it [blocking] earlier, before things get more complicated and create a serious issue,” Dian argued, explaining that the step would not affect Telkom’s business as Netflix customers were currently small in number.

Earlier, Telkom expressed interest in cooperating with Netflix. Most of the video-streaming viewers use fixed broadband as mobile data plans are expensive and Netflix uses up to one gigabit (GB) of data per hour.

As previously reported, Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara gave Netflix a grace period to enter Indonesia freely until Feb. 7 for promotion purposes.

Afterwards, it has to meet all the rules, such as owning a legal entity in the country or working with an Indonesian operator. Otherwise, Netflix must have a license from the ministry to be present in Indonesia as a content provider. (Arif Gunawan S)