For those of you who want to visit Aceh either for travel or other purposes, now can more easily send reports or various info on social media. Since May 2017, parts of the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) have been covered with 4G LTE service from XL Axiata, including in the outermost islands, namely Sabang and Semeulue. Not just the expansion of the network, these operators also build a service ecosystem in every area reached.
Director / Chief Service Management of XL Axiata, Yessie D. Yosetya said this year it is aggressively expanding its 4G LTE network to various regions in the country. Not only limited to big cities but also cities/regency that enter the category of remote areas.
“For the province of Aceh, we are also continuing to extend our 4G LTE service to remote areas, including cities/districts along the West Coast, Central, and Southeast Aceh, to Singkil and Semeulue Island. which we do is also a form of XL Axiata commitment to support the government provides telecommunications infrastructure including fast internet in the border region, “said Yessie.
The statement seemed to answer the sarcasm that is often addressed to some operators, except Telkomsel, who only want to deploy networks in areas of fat or potential.
According to Yessie, like other areas in Sumatra, the people’s demand on the earth ‘Serambi Mecca’ is top of the line Service quality data also increased rapidly. It can be shown from the growth of data service traffic that increased more than 238% in the last year. The increase is evenly distributed in all areas in the province of NAD. Meanwhile, XL Axiata customers who have used 4G devices reach more than 16% of total subscribers in NAD as much as about 798 thousand.
Currently, XL Axiata 4G LTE service can be enjoyed by people in several cities/districts in NAD, namely Sabang City, Banda Aceh City, Kab. Aceh Besar, Kab. Pidie, Kab. Pidie Jaya, Kab. Bireuen, Kota Lhokseumawe, Kab. East Aceh, Kab. Aceh Tengah, Kab. Aceh Barat Daya, Kab. Bener Meriah, Kab. Aceh Tenggara, Subulussalam City, and Semeulue District. Total BTS 4G already operating there are more than 60 units. The city of Banda Aceh as the center of government, economy, education, and the main gate of NAD became the area with the largest number of BTS 4G, not less than 33 units. The addition of 4G BTS will be adjusted to increase the traffic in each area to maintain the quality of service.
By providing 4G LTE service, XL Axiata expects local people to benefit more, including making it a means of increasing productivity. Moreover, the people of Aceh are known to be very dynamic and always update with the latest digital trend developments.
The use of Data services to support activities and productivity by the Acehnese community can be seen from the considerable number of Acehnese product offerings through online shopping sites or applications such as handicraft products from Aceh Besar, Gayo Coffee from Central Aceh, Sabang and Banda Aceh tour promo.
Quality data services that can be obtained through the 4G LTE network will also be a solution for people who need access to entertainment facilities considering the limited entertainment facilities in Indonesia’s most western province.
Yessie added that XL Axiata’s policy of continuing to expand its 4G LTE network and service is inseparable from the growing customer growth and data traffic nationally. The growth of service traffic This data is in line with the increasing use of 4G LTE smartphones that occur evenly in all areas of service XL Axiata. This is also in line with the company’s strategy to focus on Data services for 2017. Therefore, capital expenditure (CAPEX) for this year is primarily to support the development of Data services from all sides, including the provision of networks to remote areas.
For information, as of August 2017 as many as 336 cities/districts have affordable fast 4G LTE internet service, including among dozens of cities in Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. Especially for the region of Sumatra, as many as 102 cities/districts have been served 4G LTE from XL Axiata.
As a result of expanding and improving the quality of data services, as of the end of June 2017, nationally recorded increase in data service traffic almost 3x compared to the same period last year. Especially for 4G service traffic, recorded an increase of up to 13x. The number of Data service customers in general also continues to increase, currently reaching about 70% of total customers.
By the end of June 2017, the number of customers using smartphones has also continued to increase and to about 67% of total customers. Meanwhile, XL 4G LTE service customers also continue to grow and have reached about 20 million subscribers. XL Axiata service is currently supported by a total of more than 93 thousand BTS, including more than 42 thousand 3G BTS and more than 14 thousand BTS 4G.
