Indonesian telecom service provider XL Axiata nine-month revenue increased slightly to Rp 15.8 trillion from Rp 15.7 trillion.
One of the growth drivers for income is the increase in data business. Data revenue contributed 23 percent of total revenue compared to 19 percent in the previous year.
Data traffic increased 125 percent and data subscribers made up about 58 percent of the company’s total subscribers.
The penetration of smartphones in Indonesia helped the growth of data users at XL. About 9.2 million of XL’s subscribers use smartphones, jumping 55 percent from last year.
XL’s total subscribers grew 7 percent to 58.1 million subscribers. In comparison, users of Indosat, another major telecommunications operator, decreased to 53.8 million this year from 55.5 million a year earlier. That positioned XL as the second-largest telecommunications operator based on the number of subscribers, after Telkomsel.
The company is experiencing a decline in revenue from its voice service and short messaging service. Its voice service revenue declined 9 percent while SMS revenue dipped 4 percent.
The two divisions contributed a combined 74 percent to XL’s revenue.
XL ARPU fell 13 percent to Rp 27,000.
The second-largest telecommunications company in Indonesia said its nine-month profit declined 58 percent to Rp 917 billion ($828 million) from Rp 2.2 trillion in the corresponding period last year. This was primarily due to higher costs.
Meanwhile, Telekomunikasi Indonesia earliest said it posted an 11 percent increase in profit on surging domestic demand for quality service.
Net income for the January-September period rose to Rp 11.06 trillion ($1 billion) from Rp 10 trillion in the same period last year.
Its revenue rose 8 percent to Rp 61.50 trillion.
Full-year revenue is expected to reach Rp 83.2 trillion, Bloomberg reported.
Telkomsel controls about 40 percent of the cellular telecommunication market in Indonesia, which has reached about 310 million subscriptions — well over the total population of about 240 million people. Other mobile operators include XL, Axiata and Indosat.
Telkom has set its capital expenditure at Rp 20 trillion this year. It had spent almost 70 percent of the funds, or Rp 14 trillion, as of the end of September this year.