Why is Opera Mini booming in Indonesia?

June 29, 2009 · by Zi Bin Cheah

It's not just Opera Mini, but the whole Mobile Web.

As shown by State of the Mobile Web Report, Indonesians' average page view is 400 odd pages and they also enjoy the second biggest Opera Mini user base after Russia.

So why is the Mobile Web booming?

Cheap access. There are more than 10 telcos pitting against each other and each one offers good pricing. On average you pay about USD0.10/Mb.
Bad landlines. The Mobile Web is the perfect substitution for an unsatisfactory landline experience.
The Berry factor. The mass appeal for BlackBerry and its push email application meant that going online became part of the "Berry craze".
Traffic jams. During rush hour, what better to do than to surf the web?

I've presented the case in The New Wave of Mobile Internet, Universitas Krisdwipayana and the FreSh forum.

Here are the slides for the mobile browser trends and the boom in Indonesia.

Readers' comments 13

Left under the original article, as archived.

Yeni SetiawanMonday, June 29, 2009 1:34:21 PM

Nice review Zi Bin, even some mobile internet users knows nothing about computer. They simply use browser inside their cellphone.
Zi Bin CheahMonday, June 29, 2009 4:12:09 PM
Sandalian, thanks! You should meet up with the opera crew next time we come to Indonesia.

Oh yea, another factor Opera Mini boomed in Indonesia is because some Indonesians use the mobile phone as their primary browsing tool. Am I right?
Yeni SetiawanMonday, June 29, 2009 5:10:53 PM
You're right.

Most Indonesian use their mobile phone to connect on the Net because it's the only device they have. Cellphone has become a must-have-gadget, even in a small village.

While PC, many people won't buy it unless they really need it. Taxi driver wouldn't have PC, but sure they have cellphone.

I would like to meet Opera crew next time you visit my country, I'll cross my finger.
theoddbodMonday, June 29, 2009 5:46:04 PM
Also, anywhere outside the city centres the connection is pretty dreadful. A few months ago i had to use a dialup connection over there on a landline on the outskirts of a large city there, and i was getting less than 100 bytes a second. I'm also told the mobile connection is much worse than just two years ago, possibly due to the rapid growth in users. Certainly seems worse each time i'm there
Zi Bin CheahTuesday, June 30, 2009 3:35:24 AM
@theoddbod,

Yeaps, I've had the same experience, even in Jakarta ;-)
Charles SchlossTuesday, June 30, 2009 3:45:48 AM
Ryan OctavianusTuesday, June 30, 2009 7:12:33 AM
@theoddbod

btw yeah, the mobile connection is getting hit by operators giving unlimited quota (as in volume) to users.
theoddbodTuesday, June 30, 2009 8:29:57 AM
Unlimited? Wow, it's not like it was exactly expensive in the first place. I could browse Mini comfortably, images on, for over a week on one 50,000 rupiah IM2 (or was it IM3, i forget which is mobile) topup...although it would tend to have hours when it refused to work.
*waves at Indosat, points markedly at overloaded network*

Also, @philry4n,
Zi Bin CheahTuesday, June 30, 2009 8:32:17 AM
I have the impression that despite the fact that telkomsel is the biggest telco, indosat seems to be getting more love from the younger crowd.

Maybe also because of better surfing deal?
theoddbodTuesday, June 30, 2009 11:32:10 AM
Indosat has wider, albeit more maddening, coverage.
Ryan OctavianusTuesday, June 30, 2009 11:38:42 PM
Indosat is for younger people. Indosat was the first operator that introduced gprs here[citation needed]

by the way i just saw an indosat tv ad mentions Opera Mini
Zi Bin CheahWednesday, July 1, 2009 8:21:35 AM
Ryan,

Is it this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2D-Wx3qWUA
Unregistered userTuesday, July 14, 2009 7:25:05 PM
oxiz writes: "zibin # 1. July 2009, 08:21 Ryan, Is it this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2D-Wx3qWUA :smile: " Yes that one. that adv tag-line is "Online ... Online"