"Taking various things into account the government allows foreign investors to have only up to 20 percent of shares in broadcasting industry," Director General of Post and Informatics Kalamullah Ramli said here on Monday.
The decision is to give business certainty in the broadcasting industry, Kalamullah told legislators of the House Commission I in a hearing .
He said Indonesia is not the only country considering broadcasting as a strategic industry.
He cited a number of countries such as South Korea, free to air broadcasting industry is closed to foreign investment , although giving a 49 percent shares in cable TV.
"Australia give a maximum limit of 5 percent for foreign investors and in the United States the limit is 25 percenmt," he added.
He said Indonesia is quite conservative in giving the 20 percent limit to provide business certainty.
He said the Broadcasting Commission needs to control the content potential to cause damage to the national cultures.
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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