Indonesia's mobile phone shipments jump 68% in Q3

A recent report issued by the International Data Corporation said that mobile phone shipments in Indonesia experienced significant growth in the third quarter this year, local media reported on Thursday.IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile report showed that Indonesia's phone shipments surpassed 12 million units in the third quarter, greater than the 10 million shipments made in the second quarter. The third quarter growth represented a year-over- year growth of 68 percent.This high level of growth was attributed to the high volume of shipments of low-end mobile phones, particularly the ones with dual SIMs. Additionally, the Idul Fitri season saw an increase in spending on consumer goods."Continuous improvements made in the distribution channels outside Jakarta and Java Island are creating better opportunities for vendors to meet targets through sales of low-cost handsets," Fajar Hidayat, market analyst for Telecommunications Research at IDC Indonesia said.Price wars between operators offering promotional tariffs and bonuses have also contributed to the growth in mobile phone purchases by consumers.The third quarter shipments were dominated by feature phones. However, smart phones maintained a positive growth trend at 5 percent quarterly and contributed 11 percent to the total of mobile phone shipments, the Jakarta Globe reported.The IDC is expecting the Indonesian smartphone market to grow by 68 percent in 2012 due to the introduction of several lower- priced smart phones. "Despite the inroads made by local vendors, smartphone sales in Indonesia are still led by international brands," Hidayat added.