PT Centrin Utama took its first steps in the IT industry in 1987 as a manufacturer of IBM-compatible personal computers for the domestic market. However, by the mid 1990s, the Company recognized that not only did the Internet have the potential to transform society, it would drastically change the role of the IT industry. Centrin was quick to recognize that as an operator in the IT industry, it had to do more than merely produce and market hardware, it had to develop a platform for providing integrated solutions to meet the needs of individual and corporate users of information technology. The Internet appeared to have the potential to become such a platform.

In 1995, the Company acquired a permit from the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications to operate as an Internet Service Provider (ISP), offering connectivity service to the Internet via telephone dial-up, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), and leased line to individual and corporate users.
In 1996, manned by less than 10 people, the Company began operating as an ISP in Bandung. During its first year of operation the Company had registered around 2,800 subscribers.

By December 2000, the Company had established branches in Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Medan, Bogor and Pontianak, with 81 employees and more than 38,500 registered subscribers. The Company will open branches in Yogyakarta and Batam in 2001, with three more branches planned after the Initial Public Offering (IPO).

A recent independent survey by SWA business magazine ranked Centrin Online as the third largest ISP in Indonesia, in term of number of subscribers, commanding a market share of 11%.