Friday, 04 September 2026
MEDAN | INDATANEWS.COM - The ban on mobile operators allowing customers' remaining internet data quotas to expire is an important correction to a business practice in the telecommunications sector, where consumers have often been placed in a position of having to accept providers' terms and conditions. Through Ministerial Circular Letter No. 4 of 2026, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) reaffirms providers' obligation to protect customers' unused data quotas and prohibits them from imposing additional charges to preserve those rights. The regulation follows the ruling of the Indonesian Constitutional Court No. 273/PUU-XXIII/2025.
The measure should be viewed as more than a mere technical change to the validity period of internet packages. Data quotas are part of a service that consumers have already purchased. When the benefit of that service is unilaterally withdrawn after payment has been made, it raises questions of contractual fairness and consumer protection. Mobile operators should not have unrestricted authority to determine the consequences of a transaction after payment has been completed. Digital business relationships require a balance of rights rather than dominance by the party that controls the technical system.Therefore, protection mechanisms for unused data must be genuinely available and easy to use. These may include carrying the remaining data quota over to the next billing period, extending its validity period, transferring usage rights, providing reasonable compensation, or issuing refunds. The right to choose must not be reduced to a mere formality through hidden conditions, complicated procedures, unreasonable deadlines, or user-unfriendly application designs.
The biggest challenge now lies in implementation. Strict regulation will remain ineffective if providers' systems continue to allow customers' data quotas to be automatically deleted. Komdigi must ensure that all providers adjust their systems, applications, contractual terms, payment mechanisms, and customer service structures accordingly.
Information about available data quotas, validity periods, usage, remaining benefits, and available protection mechanisms must be provided transparently, clearly, and in an easily accessible manner.Consumer education must also become a genuine obligation and should not be limited to merely publishing regulations. Consumers must be informed about their rights through applications, text messages, websites, physical outlets, and providers' customer service channels. Consumers should not be expected to navigate and understand the relevant regulations on their own.
Operators derive economic benefits from digital services. Therefore, they must also actively ensure that consumers understand the rights associated with their respective transactions.Komdigi must also go beyond simply requesting compliance reports. Oversight should be reinforced through audits, inspections, system testing, regular reviews, and consistent sanctions. Repeated violations must carry more serious consequences. Without effective enforcement, there is a risk that the ban will become merely an administrative rule that gradually loses its practical impact.
Equally important is an effective complaint mechanism. Consumers must have access to a fast, simple, free, and transparent complaint channel. Every complaint should be assigned a registration number and a clear processing deadline. An escalation mechanism should also be available so that consumers can turn to Komdigi when a provider fails to provide an adequate remedy.
Remedies must also be concrete, such as restoring lost data quotas, extending the validity period, or providing compensation in accordance with applicable regulations.The new regulation offers an opportunity to change the paradigm in the telecommunications industry. Remaining data quotas are not a bonus that providers may delete at will; they are part of a service that consumers have already paid for.
Therefore, Komdigi must ensure that the regulation does not stop at a circular letter but instead results in consumer protection that is concrete, measurable, enforceable, and directly felt by the public. (IDNC)By Dr. Farid Wajdi, S.H., M.Hum.
The author is the founder of Ethics of Care
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