Supporting Constitutional Court Ruling Banning Internet Quota Forfeiture, Lawmaker Says: Protect People's Rights

Member of Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Nurul Arifin stated that the Constitutional Court (MK) ruling, which declares remaining internet quota to be the property of consumers and prohibits its unilateral forfeiture by telecommunications operators, represents state protection of the people’s rights. The ruling, read out on Thursday (23/7/2026), partially granted the petitioner’s request. According to her, the decision marks an important milestone in strengthening consumer rights protection in the digital era. She assessed that the internet has now become a basic necessity for society, not only for communication but also for education, work, health services, and digital economic activities. “The Constitutional Court’s ruling deserves our respect and joint support. This is a form of state protection for consumer rights. The internet quota that the public has paid for is their right, so it should not simply disappear without being utilised,” Nurul said in Jakarta on Friday (24/7/2026). However, she cautioned that the implementation of the ruling should not create new problems in the form of increased internet service tariffs or reduced data package benefits that ultimately burden the public. “The public should not gain the right to keep their remaining quota but have to pay more. That would certainly contradict the spirit of the MK ruling, which seeks to provide justice for consumers,” she said. Telecommunications operators, she noted, have many business strategy options besides imposing additional costs on customers. She believes companies should use this ruling as momentum to improve efficiency and innovation. “Operators can strengthen network efficiency through technology optimisation, including the use of artificial intelligence in traffic management. With more efficient networks, operational costs can also be reduced without sacrificing customers,” she said. She therefore requested the government to immediately formulate derivative regulations that provide certainty for all parties, both operators and the public. She believes the regulation should clearly govern the rollover mechanism for remaining internet quota, transparency of data package information, and consumer protection in the event of unreasonable tariff changes. “On the other hand, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) also needs to supervise to prevent price-fixing agreements among operators that could harm the public,” she said.