Indonesia SIM card from the UAE: Bali tourist SIM, roaming or eSIM

Data in Bali and Indonesia from the UAE: the options

Four routes lead to an Indonesia SIM card or its substitute: Telkomsel’s tourist SIM from Rp100,000, a weekly pack on your e&, du or Virgin Mobile UAE line from AED 100.00, Virgin’s free One Country pass, or a data eSIM installed before you fly. Only the local SIM needs your phone’s IMEI registered.

Pack prices as listed by e&, du and Virgin Mobile on 15 Oct 2026; AED per GB is our derivation (price ÷ GB). eSIM prices are in AED at the day’s rate: your card is charged exactly that amount.

The rows are our synthesis of Telkomsel and Bea Cukai (16 Oct 2026) and e&, du and Virgin Mobile UAE (15 Oct 2026).

Telkomsel’s tourist SIM: 25GB for 30 days, collected in Bali

This Indonesia SIM card is Telkomsel’s Pre-Order Special SIMPATI SIM for foreigners: 25GB, 25 minutes of calls and 25 international minutes for 30 days at Rp100,000 (16 Oct 2026). We do not convert rupiah to AED, and the page states no tax, so we add none.

The page says “Unlock your phone to enjoy this special offer”, so confirm your handset is carrier-unlocked first. Pick-up is “currently available only in Bali and Mandalika Lombok areas”, so if you land in Jakarta this SIM is not your plan. The page names areas, not shops: ask Telkomsel where in Bali before you head for Ubud.

Telkomsel’s launch release of 13 Mar 2022 (“Telkomsel Prabayar Tourist”, the same 25GB, 30 days, Rp100,000) says you can pre-order online from home and collect the SIM at a GraPARI service centre or certain Telkomsel outlets on arrival. The release adds sales at outlets in arrival areas such as airports, and names the Bali and Lombok airports for the 2022 MotoGP event. That is a 2022 text, so we have no current confirmation of an airport counter. The page lists no documents and no tourist eSIM, and we did not collect Indosat or XL tourist tariffs.

Rp100,000 for 25GB is Rp4,000 per GB (our arithmetic). A 7-day trip still pays for 30 days: about Rp14,286 for each day you are there, against Rp3,333 over all 30.

e&, du and Virgin Mobile in Indonesia: a week in Bali

For a week in Indonesia your UAE line costs AED 100.00 on e& prepaid (4GB), du postpaid (10GB) or Virgin Mobile UAE (2GB), and Indonesia is on Virgin’s One Country list of 34 countries (15 Oct 2026), free on plans of 20GB and up. Indonesia sits in the roaming zone list of all three operators (15 Oct 2026).

Sources: e& (15 Oct 2026); du postpaid and prepaid (15 Oct 2026); Virgin (15 Oct 2026). Pack rules: e& Weekly Data Pack, Virgin One Country.

When the days start differs. e&’s weekly pack is “Charged upon purchase but validity starts upon first eligible usage”. Virgin’s “validity will begin once the first call is received or made”. du’s data-only bundles “will only be activated during your travel”. For postpaid data bundles du’s API and FAQ disagree, so buy shortly before you fly and check the du app. Virgin’s One Country pass “won’t auto renew”, so re-activate it each month.

du also sells a travel eSIM for Indonesia: about AED 14.69 (US$4) for 1GB and 7 days, and about AED 75.29 (US$20.50) for unlimited 7 days (15 Oct 2026).

The IMEI rule: a local SIM needs your phone registered

An Indonesia SIM card means registering your phone’s IMEI: a tourist staying up to 90 days does it at an operator outlet, while a phone on a foreign SIM in roaming needs no registration (Bea Cukai, 16 Oct 2026).

The customs office at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport, which serves Denpasar, writes that a traveller on a foreign SIM as an inbound roamer “tidak perlu melakukan registrasi IMEI”: no IMEI registration is needed. For foreign tourists staying up to 90 days, access to the Indonesian network comes through IMEI registration “di gerai layanan operator telekomunikasi”, at the operator’s outlet. Once any customs duties on the phone are settled, it can be activated with an Indonesian SIM within “maksimal 2 x 24 jam”, at most 2 × 24 hours.

Longer stays go through the Bea Cukai website or app, for at most two phones. The exemption from duty and tax, up to USD 500, covers only a registration made inside the customs area. Register after leaving it, within 60 days of arrival, and you pay duty 10%, VAT 11% and income tax 10% (20% without an NPWP, the Indonesian taxpayer number). The page is in Indonesian and dates from 8 Aug 2023, so check Bea Cukai before you fly.

A roaming pack and an eSIM skip this step: both are a foreign profile roaming on a local network. Our Indonesia eSIM runs on Telkomsel, Indosat and 3 5G. The unlimited data plans last 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 or 30 days, at full speed up to 3GB a day, then 1 Mbps. The 7-day unlimited plan is AED 92.99, about AED 13.28 a day (our arithmetic); 10GB for 30 days is AED 49.99. See the Bali and Indonesia eSIM plans, or how much data do I need to size one.

The price in AED is the exact amount you pay. Charged in AED by JET SHARING (USA). Your bank may add a foreign-transaction fee; see how to pay.

Our eSIMs for Indonesia are data-only: no calls, no SMS, no number. Keep your UAE SIM switched on for SMS; e& and Virgin Mobile don’t charge for SMS you receive abroad, and calls you receive are charged per minute. Setup: keep your UAE number. Our eSIMs are for use outside the UAE; they do not provide service in the UAE. On Android the APN for Indonesia is set by hand (APN settings); iPhone sets it automatically. If the eSIM has not connected to any network, you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase.

What if the eSIM doesn’t work when you land in Indonesia?

Check four settings, in this order, before you write to us.

The first is the line for mobile data. On iPhone it is Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data; on Android, the SIM manager. Pick the travel line there; your UAE line stays on for calls and SMS, with its mobile data off.

The second is data roaming, for the eSIM line only. The eSIM is a foreign profile, so the phone treats Indonesia as roaming for it.

The third is the APN. The plan does not set it by itself here: add globaldata on Android under the eSIM line’s mobile network settings.

The fourth is a restart. Restart the phone or switch airplane mode on and off, and let it find Telkomsel and 3 (Hutchison); this can take a few minutes after you leave the plane.

Still no data? Write to us on WhatsApp or at support@esimgo.ae with your order number, or go through the no-signal checklist. Do not delete the eSIM to “try again”: a deleted profile usually cannot be installed twice from the same code. If the eSIM doesn't work and it isn't your phone's fault, we refund the payment whether or not it was installed.

What I’d choose (and when NOT to buy the eSIM)

For a week of maps, rides and messaging I’d take 1 GB for 7 days, AED 12.99. For two weeks or more, with photos and social media, I’d go for 5 GB for 30 days, AED 27.99. If you video-call and stream every day, take the unlimited plan for 7 days, AED 92.99, with 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.

I would not recommend the eSIM in three cases. If you need calls or SMS on your UAE number every day, roaming on your e&, du or Virgin Mobile line keeps them, and some packs include minutes (compare the packs). If your phone has no eSIM or is locked to one operator, it cannot take the plan: check your model first. And if your group travels together all day and shares one connection, a pocket Wi-Fi can cover everyone.

FAQ

Get an eSIM for Indonesia, from AED 12.99 Pay by card in AED. The seller is registered outside the UAE, so some banks may still add a foreign-merchant fee. Install the profile at home on Wi-Fi before you fly. The QR code arrives by e-mail after payment. See plans