Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Technologies will inspect telecom operators following reports that mobile internet was still working in some parts of Bali during Nyepi. Minister Meutya Hafid said these incidents would be recorded and taken into account when preparing for the next Day of Silence.
Under this year’s rules, mobile data on Bali was to be switched off for 24 hours — from 06:00 on 19 March to 06:00 on 20 March. The only exception was for vital facilities and services that must operate without interruption. These requirements were set out in Ministerial Circular No. 2 of 2026 and were published in advance by the Bali provincial authorities.
At the same time, home fixed-line internet did not have to be switched off. Regular voice calls and SMS also continued to work.
After the holiday, it emerged that in some areas people could still access the internet on mobile devices. The ministry now wants to understand why this happened and to what extent these cases were linked to technical exemptions for hospitals, the police, the fire service and other critical facilities.
One explanation has already been given by representatives of Indosat in the Bali and Nusa Tenggara region. According to them, mobile internet may have remained available for people living close to critical facilities — roughly within a radius of 500 metres to 1.5 kilometres.
Source: antaranews.com
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