Kalasuara -

Indonesia's Constitutional Court has ordered telecom operators to offer a service option that keeps customers' leftover data quota active and usable. The ruling, read out at the court's plenary session room in Jakarta on Thursday, July 23, 2026, takes direct aim at data packages that expire, and erase any unused quota, the moment their validity period ends.

The court partially granted a judicial review of Article 28(1) within Article 71 point 2 of the appendix to Law No. 6 of 2023 on Job Creation, which amended the 1999 Telecommunications Law. Judges found the provision unconstitutional unless read to include an obligation to offer an option that protects the quota benefits prepaid and postpaid customers have already paid for.

"Granting the petitioners' request in part," Constitutional Court Chief Justice Suhartoyo said as he read the verdict.

What does the ruling actually require?

The ruling requires operators to offer a choice of service that preserves the value of leftover quota. It does not force every data package to become a rollover plan. The court laid out six acceptable paths: accumulation or rollover, an extended validity period, a transfer of the benefit, compensation, a refund, or another form of protection. Operators can still sell non-rollover packages, as long as one of those protective options is available to customers.

Rollover quota, one of the six options, carries unused data over to a customer's next purchase period. The court also ruled that protected leftover quota must be usable without extra fees or charges billed under the guise of extending the validity period. Operators must give customers an easy way to track their usage and remaining balance, and must spell out price, data volume, validity period, the order in which quota gets used, fair-use policies, and how leftover quota will be treated, all from the point of purchase.

Komdigi has only started its review, with no deadline

A day after the ruling, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, known as Komdigi, said on Friday, July 24, 2026, that it was studying the ruling's implications for existing regulations. The ministry's statement set no deadline for issuing technical rules, even though how the term "service option" ends up defined in follow-up regulation will determine whether the obligation actually reaches customers.

"We are making sure every policy in the telecommunications sector provides legal certainty and protects the public's interests," Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said.

Operators moved first. At a court hearing on June 18, 2026, well before the ruling came down, the Indonesian Telecommunications Operators Association (ATSI) and its member companies told the court they had already developed, and would keep developing, rollover packages, non-rollover packages, and other service options. The gap between that hearing and the ruling shows operators lining up product variety on their own timeline, while the regulator only began drafting implementing rules after the binding decision landed.

Who feels the impact of expired quota most?

Customers with irregular data habits, ride-hailing drivers switching between mobile data and WiFi, online sellers, students, and families who buy large packages just in case, are the ones most likely to have a big chunk of quota left over when their validity period runs out. Telecommunications ranked among the top 10 sectors for consumer complaints in 2025, with 106 cases, according to the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI).

"Consumers have to get what they're owed for what they've paid for. It can't be cut unilaterally," said Rio Priambodo, a YLKI executive.

In the hearing, YLKI presented cases of customers losing tens of gigabytes of data because of confusing rules on which package gets drawn down first, or quota that was automatically wiped when a customer topped up on the same day. Operator compliance with government-mandated obligations has drawn scrutiny before: two of three major mobile carriers were found lagging on SIM card biometric scanning even after that rule had already taken effect.

The gaps that will decide whether this ruling is felt at all

Several questions remain open before the ruling changes anything for customers' wallets. Packages that protect leftover quota need to be easy to find across every brand and sales channel, not buried inside pricier plans. The technical details of rollover, such as the deadline to extend before quota expires, whether package types have to match, caps on how much data can carry over, and how long it stays valid, will decide whether the option is genuinely useful or just a box ticked on paper.

Follow-up regulation also needs to spell out how main quota, local quota, app-specific quota, bonus data, and promotional packages are treated, so operators cannot use product names to obscure which quota is actually protected. Without clear complaint channels and penalties, customers have no way to confirm that the options operators promise on paper actually work in the app and at the store counter.