A shake-up in Indonesia could see the country’s leading operator, Telkomsel, forced to share key parts of its network with smaller rivals, reported Reuters.

The move is part of a proposal to liberalise the telecoms sector, and improve the speed of broadband roll-out over the next three years.

Telkomsel is the runaway leader in the country, with 44 per cent of all mobile connections (GSMA Intelligence Q2 2016 figures), and dominates coverage in most of the country. Prices in rural areas, in particular, are seen as high.

Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said, at the current rate, the country will fall at least $15 billion short of expanding fixed and mobile networks through its existing model.

“The strategy has to be built in a more efficient way, which is to allow active sharing,” he said, which, Reuters said, also referred to sharing of spectrum.

Main rivals in the country include XL Axiata and Indosat, owned by Malaysia’s Axiata Group and Qatar’s Ooredoo, respectively, as well as Hutchison 3 Indonesia.

The companies have in the past lobbied for spectrum sharing, but the government has been reluctant to change policy as it is seen as an area linked to national security.

Telkom is also one of the biggest revenue contributors among nearly 120 state owned enterprises, paying the government $2.4 billion last year.

The proposed changes could be key to achieving President’s Joko Widodo’s aims to extend connectivity across the Indonesian islands by 2019.