Indonesian CI Minister VS BlackBerry RIM

Indonesian CI Minister VS BlackBerry RIM – The Saga Continues…

Posted on Jan 17, 2011

The Indonesian Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring, have again launched another allegation toward the Blackberry producer Research In Motion (RIM). The minister have accused RIM to have avoided paying substantial tax by not having an office in Indonesia.

The Indonesian Government have asked RIM that entered the country in 2004 to open its office in Indonesia since August 2010. RIM did open a service centre in Jakarta but all company operation is still substantially controlled from Canada.

It is estimated that RIM has manage to sell around 2 million handhelds in Indonesia through proper channel and another 1 million through the black market.

The Minister estimated RIM to have manage a net profit of USD 19 million dollars per month or around USD 228 million per year from its operation in Indonesia by charging its customers USD 7 per month. “That is money from Indonesian people going toward RIMS’s pocket” says the Minister.

The Saga Continues

Other than evading taxes the Minister have also accused RIM of freely piggybacking on Indonesian cellular infrastructure which was built by 6 local operators in Indonesia.

The minister believe that RIM is making all this money without investing anything in Indonesia. “Is it so wrong for us to ask Indonesian share like work opportunities, local content, to respect and obey our sovereign law?” says the Tifatul.

All operators operating in Indonesia, add Tifatul, have followed and complied with law and regulation, they pay frequency licenses, taxes, utilise local workers, donate for natural disaster such as Mentawai, Wasior and others.

“ Why can’t we ask RIM to follow and complied with the same regulations? Is RIM so different that it needs special treatments? Is it arrogant for us to remind foreign companies to respect the Indonesian law and regulation?” says the Minister further.

At separate place Gregory Wade, RIM South East Asia Managing Director refute the allegation. “We paid all taxes and comply with all regulation of any countries we operate” says Gregory.

Wade says that RIM always pays import duty, custom and any other taxes applied to any other goods entering the countries. RIM also believes that its services attracts a lot of customers which in turn provides significant profit for operators that allows RIM to use their services.

As for the office RIM says that the Investment Coordination Board (BKPM) have approved the formation of its Indonesian company PT RIM Indonesia and have operated fully in Jakarta. RIM also have cooperation with universities through its BlackBerry Academic programs and with local developers through it BlackBerry Partner fund.

For blocking adult content as requested by the Indonesian Government, RIM willing to discuss it as there are substantial cost associated with the filtering mechanism. RIM will also clarified with the Government regarding the regulation that requiring service providers to have its data centers located within the country.