In the 4G era, voice still dominates Telkomsel revenue

• 65mil of its customers are active 2G users
• Targeting to provide 96% population coverage

 
PT Telekomunikasi Seluler Indonesia (Telkomsel) is the biggest revenue generator for parent company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) – the mobile operator contributed 74% or Rp76.06 trillion (US$5.9 billion) of the telco giant’s Rp102.47 trillion (US$7.5 billion) in fiscal 2015.
 
But while mobility rules, the new digital era hasn’t quite caught on, with the biggest contributor to Telkomsel revenue coming from its non-digital businesses.
 
According to Telkomsel president director Ririek Adriansyah, his company’s revenue is still dominated by 2G (Second Generation) voice, although he did not disclose actual figures.
 
Currently, it has 153 million customers in total, with only five million of them subscribing to its 4G (Fourth Generation) service.
 
“About 65 million of our customers are still using 2G, though we already built 17,869 BTSes (base transceiver stations) across the archipelago,” he told a press conference in Jakarta on May 28.
 
Ririek admitted that revenue from data services was still quite small.
 
“That’s why we continue to aggressively build out our 4G networks in 100 cities – we need to transform ourselves in that direction because digital is the future for telco companies,” he said on the sidelines of the press conference.
 
Committed to expanding mobile services throughout Indonesia, Telkomsel will add 13,000 BTSes to cover 96% of the country’s population, he declared, claiming it already has 4,500 4G BTSes put in place.
 
“This year, we will build another 4,500 l4G] BTSes in more than 100 cities,” he added.
 
Meanwhile, Telkomsel sales director Mas’ud Khamid said the company is not only looking at migrating consumers to 4G, but also businesses.
 
“We have a migration plan – including bonus packages and handsets – aimed at moving 2G users to 4G,” he said, admitting however that the company needs to create greater awareness of its bundling programmes.
 
But Mas’ud was also optimistic of 4G takeup.
 
“For example in Jakarta itself, we are allocating more of our 2G connectivity in the 1,800MHz frequency to 4G because of high demand,” he said.
 
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