Sitting at the geographic and strategic heart of Asia-Pacific, being the world’s largest archipelagic state—comprising over 17,000 islands across three time zones and over 6 million square kilometers of maritime area, Indonesia occupies an indispensable position in global digital infrastructure, especially global subsea cable networks nowadays.

Indonesia has established a complicated regulatory system on the subsea cable infrastructure. To understand the landscape, please visit here: Indonesia’s Subsea Cable Landscape: Strategic Gateways, TIMNAS, and Permitting Realities.

In 2020 under Kepmenkomarves No. 107/2020 (later extended via Kepmenkomarves No. 46/2021 and No. 51/DII/2023), Indonesia established the National Team for the Management of Submarine Cables and Pipelines (TIMNAS), a cross-ministerial steering body bringing together Kemenko Marves, KKP, Kominfo (now Komdigi), Kemenhub, Kemhan, Pushidrosal, and BKPM to eliminate inter-agency friction and serve as the single technical review engine for new subsea cable applications.

In 2021, Indonesia enacted Kepmen KP No. 14/2021, through the the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (Kepmen KP, or KKP). This decree established a standardized national marine spatial map containing: 

• 217 Statutory Submarine Cable Corridors: Specific underwater transit paths where all future domestic and international subsea cables must be laid.
• 43 Underwater Pipeline Segments: Dedicated offshore oil and gas pipeline corridors.
• 209 Beach Main Holes (BMH): Designated coastal landfall coordinates.
• 4 Mandated International Gateways: Designated international landing hubs in Batam, Manado, Kupang, and Jayapura designed to decentralize network traffic away from Java.

In 2023, TIMNAS launched the E-Pipakabel digital licensing portal, which allows cable developers and their licensed local partners to register route coordinates, submit environmental and bathymetric studies, track real-time inter-agency sign-offs, and monitor foreign vessel operating requests. It bridges technical spatial mapping with sovereign defense vetting across all participating ministries through a standardized 20-step permitting workflow.

In late 2024, under President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, the Indonesian cabinet underwent a major structural reorganization (enacted via Perpres No. 140/2024 and Perpres No. 147/2024). This structural shift reorganized the oversight of KKP and TIMNAS while preserving the underlying framework of Kepmen KP No. 14/2021: