JAKARTA - Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said that Grab had expressed its interest in investing in remanufactured mobile phones or recycling obsolete cellphones. This was the result of the meeting between the Minister of Industry Agus and Grab on a series of events at the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
"I have also talked to Grab. They have the intention to invest in mobile phones remanufacturing that are relatively old or damaged, which will become new mobile phones," he said in Jakarta, Sunday (1/26).
Based on the record of the Ministry of Industry, the Mobile, Computer and Tablet (HKT) industry is one of the strategic sectors which in its development shows an upward trend and positively contributes to the national economy. Data in 2018 shows that the domestic HKT industry is capable of producing 74.7 million units, an increase of 23% from 2017 which produced around 60.5 million units.
Meanwhile, in terms of the trade balance, HKT products showed a positive trend, with a record export in the January-August 2019 period of USD 333.8 million, higher than imports in the same period valued at USD 145.4 million.
Responding to Grab's investment plan to remanufacture mobile phones in Indonesia, President of Grab Indonesia Ridzki Kramadibrata explained, the remanufacturing of cellphones meant to produce more affordable phones in the community in order to increase the potential of the digital economy in Indonesia which is projected to reach USD 100 billion. (LM)