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Francis Tan
Francis Tan is the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social me Francis Tan is the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social media and e-commerce. Get in touch with him via Twitter @francistan or Email [email protected].
Just last week, RIM was threatened to face a ban on their services in Indonesia if they don’t work with the government regulators to restrict access to pornographic websites.
Reuters report that Research in Montion (RIM) would comply with the Indonesian government order to block access to porn sites from its devices.
Communications and Information Minister Tiffatul Sembiring gave RIM until January 21 to comply, else will be forced to shut down RIM’s Indonesian browser service.
Additionally, he said also that RIM should set up servers in Indonesia and employ more locals, while questioning why the government wasn’t taxing the company’s local operations. Although the numbers are unverified, Semibiring posted on Twitter last week that Indonesia has 3 million Blackberry users generating revenues of 2.27 trillion rupiah , but yielding nothing for the state.
“We’re committed to the Indonesian market place to provide a solution that satisfies the requirements — particularly by the ministry,” said Gregory Wade, director of Asia Pacific for RIM, after a meeting with Indonesian government officials on Monday.
Although strict and uncertain regulations are often off-putting, RIM is ready to make compromises to protect one of its fastest-growing markets.
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