Government Cheated, Many External SIM Cards are Sold in Indonesia
After there is a policy post border In Indonesia, not a few legal and illegal imported goods are sold in Indonesia. One of them is an external SIM Card belonging to Saudi Arabia, Zain which is now being sold in Indonesia. It is very unfortunate by Ia Yoseph as a telecommunications observer.
The way the Zain SIM Card spread works may be quite creative. Where initially the SIM Card was distributed to all pilgrims and hajj officers who wanted to go to the holy land.
In addition, Zain sales also offer a series of cheap data packages for potential customers in Indonesia. With price Rp 150 k, pilgrims and officers will get a quota of 5 GB internet packages, 50 minutes for calls, as well as unlimited receive calls (unlimited).
Many Overseas SIM Cards are Sold in Indonesia, the Government is Misguided
He Yoseph considers the practice of selling SIM cards outside in Indonesia to be systematic and has the potential to violate the Trade Law. The Zain card may not violate existing telecommunications laws. However, from a trade perspective, such practices violate the law and have the potential to harm the state.
The presence of the Zain external card in Indonesia makes the country lose VAT from every package sold, PPh and other non-tax income. If Zain is indeed a telecommunications service provider, the state can collect PNBP from Jastel and USO.
“The government should be more firm on the sale of Zain. Zain sales should be based on permission from the Ministry of Trade. Because the SIM cards sold are imported, do they pay for it? They should have to pay import duties, taxes or non-taxes. If not, the country will be harmed,” he said.
In addition to harming the state, telecommunications operators in Indonesia will also feel a loss because of Zain’s way of working. The reason is that all telecommunications operators in Indonesia who want to serve Indonesian pilgrims already have roaming ties with telecommunications operators with the Saudis.
It seems that the Ministry of Trade is still being misled by the rise of overseas SIM cards being sold in Indonesia. If Zain does not have a license to sell in Indonesia, then the government should be stricter in following up on this practice.