Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Indonesia's second-largest wireless service provider, revealed that Indosat is working hard to transform from a telecommunications company to a technology company and will further study the field of digital services.。

Indosat's path to development is understood to be exemplary for the country, which brings together more than 1,000 islands.。

In January 2022, Indosat was formed by the merger of Qatar's Indosat Ooredoo and Hong Kong's Hutchison 3 Indonesia, which are the second and fourth largest operators in the Indonesian wireless market, respectively.。The combined entity has about 100 million users and nearly 30% market share, close to the 1% owned by Telkomsel at the time..500 million users and 45% market share。

For the full year 2022, Indosat's sales grew by about 50 percent to 47 trillion rupees (about 30.$500 million), sales in the first three quarters of 2023 increased by about 9% year-on-year, and net profit more than tripled over the same period.。

These results have benefited from the consolidation of streamlining efforts, such as the reduction of redundant base stations.。To date, the integration has brought 2.Proceeds of $800 million。Sinha expects Indosat's total revenue to reach $400 million in the first three years of the merger.。

It's easy to see that Indosat made this prediction in the hope of closing the gap with Telkomsel, a subsidiary of state-run Telkom Indonesia, which will make almost four times Indosat's net profit in 2022.。

According to statistics, Indonesia is the most populous country in Southeast Asia, with more than 2.With a population of 700 million, the domestic telecommunications market has great potential for growth, and if the company gains an advantage in developing new customers, it is expected to win the crown.。

According to Singapore research firm Twimbit, Indonesia has more than 3.500 million mobile phone users, the world's third largest mobile market。Indonesia's telecom revenue expected to grow 6 per year, report shows.1% and will reach about $20 billion by 2027, compared to about $15 billion in 2022。

It is understood that prepaid services account for 90% of mobile phone users in Indonesia, and given that users can change operators at will, fierce price competition is inevitable.。As a result, the rationalization of the business layout and the expansion of digital services and other revenue streams have become key to improving the profitability of telecommunications companies.。

Digital services will be key to Indonesia's current domestic telecom industry competition。In 2022, digital services will account for more than 10% of Telkomsel's sales, in addition to education, healthcare and game development.。

In November 2023, Indosat acquired the customer assets of multinational Kabel Mediacom, Indonesia's leading provider of home fiber optic Internet and TV services, adding 300,000 customers to its base and entertainment and other services to diversify the company's product portfolio.。

At a time of intense competition between Telkomsel and Indosat, XL Axiata is well behind the top two contenders in third place; Smartfren Telecom is close behind in fourth place。In the autumn of 2023, Indonesia's Minister of Communications and Information, Budi Arie Setiadi, had said that the government had plans to consolidate the industry into three operators, and since then there have been divergent views on the survival of the latter two.。

Indosat, an Indonesian telecom giant, is never just talking about its transition to a technology company.。

For Indosat, partnerships are one way to build its own business model, in which, as the cost of infrastructure investment continues to increase, Indosat can make money from digital services in addition to its core telecommunications business.。

Since 2021, Indosat has been working with Google in the cloud computing space to launch various services to improve the productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises that employ most Indonesian employees.。In February 2023, Indosat decided to cooperate with Cisco Systems in the field of IoT technology in smart cities, and in September announced a cooperation with Chinese state-owned company China Mobile to develop data centers.。

In July 2023, Marvelous Xperience Centre opened on the first floor of Indosat's Jakarta headquarters。The center showcases systems developed by Indosat in collaboration with companies such as Google and Ericsson, from augmented reality / virtual reality (AR / VR) and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication to artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and collaboration solutions. The center not only attracts many tourists from Indonesia and overseas, but also attracts the attention of a large number of partners.。

Sinha said Indosat's goal is to learn the expertise of technology companies and introduce and customize relevant know-how.。

In November 2023, it was reported that Indosat was developing 4G networks in areas such as Kalimantan and the proposed new capital, Nusantara, while strengthening services in rural areas.。

Indosat allegedly invested $10 million at the time to build 30 to 40 new transmission sites in Nusantara to improve the network signal strength of installed 4G base stations.。In August 2022, Telkom Indonesia announced plans to launch a data center in Nusantara to support the growth of the digital ecosystem.。

It is reported that the company's capital expenditure is an average of $800 million per year, of which 60% is spent on construction in rural areas.。In addition to improving the service quality of 4G networks, Indosat is ready to start the nationwide promotion of 5G.。

So far, Indosat has launched 5G services in eight cities in the country.。Sinha said: "The 5G investment cycle is coming, and at the same time, we will also build a digital service ecosystem to promote 5G applications.。"