Page 64 - XL Axiata Integrated Anual Report 2020 ENG

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2020 Integrated Annual Report
MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Having a vision of building the most cost-efficient network to provide the best customer experience, XL Axiata continued its network development initiatives in 2020. All its strategies were executed amid the COVID-19 pandemic that caused restrictions on logistics flow and mobility.
The pandemic also changed customer behavior, as evident from high data demand in residential areas and city outskirts in line with the government’s work and school from home policy. With an optimism to turn challenges into opportunities, the Company saw this period as a momentum to show the excellence of its network and to build the foundation to welcome a post-pandemic era.
To realize the vision and goals, the Company increased its end-to-end network readiness
to provide an even better data service.
Actions included network rollout, fiberization, establishment of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) network that is expected to give customers even better audio quality experience, faster call connections, and better simultaneous voice and Internet services. In addition, the Company performed LTE multi-carrier aggregation to increase LTE capacity by twofold. Other than that, the Company adopted a more sophisticated radio technology to expand its capacity in accommodating traffic growth, performed distributed core, and launched local cache to deliver seamless streaming and gaming experience.
PERFORMANCE SUMMARY
The Company’s discipline in carrying out network development activities throughout 2020 resulted
in notable achievements. Network rollout target
was met ahead of timeline and the Company now has added 15,000 4G BTS, including 6,300 4G capacity sites to anticipate a surge in data traffic. Overall, XL Axiata has a total of 144,978 BTS, or 47% YoY growth. Most of the new BTS are 4G stations, serving more than 95% of Indonesian population in 458 cities. XL Axiata now operates 54,297 4G BTS with 40% of the new additions carried out outside of Java. Meanwhile, to strengthen broadband services, the Company has completed 80% of its target to fiberize 15,000 sites.
In VoLTE, the Company carried out a soft
launch on 13 October 2020. By collaborating with smartphone providers, XL customers can now enjoy the benefits of VoLTE. The Company has also concluded a trial of LTE multi-carrier aggregation to increase spectrum efficiency and maintain service quality. Moreover, the Company completed the adoption of advanced radio technology, higher order MIMO (Multiple Input- Multiple Output), and higher sectorization of antenna to increase per site capacity up to three times.
The Company also implemented distributed core and launched local cache that were focused on customers’ needs, latency reduction, increased reliability, and increased efficiency of Over-the-top (OTT) product development. The outcomes of this strategy would support customers’ experience in media streaming, e.g. in video conference, remote learning, and online gaming, and the Company’s OTT-based business.
Moreover, the Company continued the 5G development journey, which began three years
ago. 5G adoption will require infrastructure and network architecture readiness as well as the ecosystem preparedness, comprising spectrum availability, regulations, and handset availability.
In 2020, as part of the 5G development, the Company among other things modernized RAN using 5G-ready radio equipment and performed high capacity backhaul. The Company also continued
its contribution in creating the right 5G ecosystem by joining 5G forums, carrying out trials, and communicating with the government to encourage spectrum and regulatory provision. With respect
to the government, the Company supported the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) registration initiative. XL Axiata showed this by completing the integration with the government’s IMEI control system and achieved 100% compliance rate by the second quarter of 2020.
OUTLOOK
The Company’s vision going forward is to build
the most efficient network to provide the best and most comprehensive experience for the customers. To that end, the Company will focus on developing massive and efficient radio network, reliable terabyte transport network, simple and scalable-distributed core, secured network, and autonomous operation.
PT. XL AXIATA TBK TRANSFORM FASTER TO EMERGE STRONGER – GIVING BACK TO THE NATION