Jakarta, 21 August 2019, PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) continues finalizing preparations to provide 5G service in the future. Various preparations have been conducted in the last two years, especially preparing for its supporting ecosystem. Among others is preparing data network with big capacity through fiberization on all networks. Fiberization can increase the capacity of network transport by more than fivefold compared with non-fiber transport. In addition, trial of 5G technology on XL Axiata network will be held to test various technical and technological aspects.
The third 5G trial was held on Wednesday (21/8) at one of the rooms in XL Axiata Building in Jakarta. The one-day trial will be held by virtually demonstrating 5G service for communications through hologram displays. Ericsson Indonesia fully supports this 5G trial by providing the 5G technology. Meanwhile, XL Axiata has also bagged a special permit for the trial from the Ministry of Communications and Informatics. The trail was attended by The Minister of Communications and Information Rudiantara and XL Axiata President Director & CEO Dian Siswarini.
Director of Technology XL Axiata, Yessie D Yosetya said “We continue having preparations to adopt 5G technology, which is currently the most advanced network technology. We seriously consider preparations on all aspects and we continue developing the ecosystem, particularly developing adequate data network. We’re also holding another trial this time to get to know more of various aspects on the technology and its implementation on our network. We expect to learn more from this trial”.
Yessie added that XL Axiata must make adjustments to the rapidly developing digital technology. According to her, XL Axiata’s customers and Indonesians in general are increasingly demanding the best services, so that they could be more productive. Their demand is highly reasonable as digital technology has been proven to be able to boost productivity of users. The company believes that 5G implementation in Indonesia can boost the productivity of human resources in Indonesia in the future.
This trial technically involved 5G devices, starting from radio, antenna, to core and they were implemented through a holographic call that is used in a meeting as well as in an unlimited collaboration as form of improvements in work quality. XL Axiata expects that this trial can give many inputs and information that can support the preparations prior to future implementation of 5G. The holographic call on 5G network can be used for long-distance meetings in various sectors, starting from industrial to business, as well as for individuals, such as in education and health sectors. Therefore, it can boost the productivity of human resources in Indonesia.
XL Axiata had held the first 5G trial at Grha XL’s yard in April 2017. It was the first 5G trial held outdoors in Indonesia by demonstrating the use of virtual reality (VR) and holding a speed test. The second 5G trial was held in August 2018 in Kota Tua, West Jakarta. The trial presented a number of demonstrations related to the implementation of 5G for supporting a smart city and public services, such as river maintenance, city park management, city monitoring, and waste transport.
Yessie said that fiberization program is one of the company’s steps in preparing the 5G network. As the most advanced network technology, 5G can support high data speed, higher number of users, and slight delay or latency. The benefits of this technology can only be experienced if site or BTS is connected to fiber. XL Axiata has massively been running the program in Indonesia for the past three years. Fiberization is technically an effort to modernize network by connecting the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) through fiber line, including simultaneously regenerating BTS devices such as replacing microwave-based devices with fiber-based devices.
XL Axiata has now fiberized networks in all capital cities of provinces, as well as in big cities in Java, Madura, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, and Lombok, especially in cities or areas according to their data growth need fiber network. XL Axiata targets 50% of BTS to be connected to fiber network by the end of 2019 and will continue to be increased to around 60%-70% by the end of 2020. Fiberization has now covered around 30% of BTS, which mostly located in Java. The company is now accelerating fiberization in areas outside of Java, considering rapid data traffic growth in the last one year. The company is even holding fiberization to Anambas Islands and Natuna by utilizing the backbone of Palapa Ring Section West.
Digi Race Competition 2019
The current fiberization has also been proven to increase the quality of 4G data service. XL Axiata tested it by holding “Digi Race Competition 2019”. Twelve independent social media practitioners will participate in the event and very intensively use data service. The event is expected to be followed by around 10 million people through various social media and digital channels. Participants, who are quite popular in digital industry, will conduct various types of digital activities with XL Axiata data network through a competition. They have to travel to various cities that have been served with XL Axiata’s fiberized data network.
In the four-day event (22-25 August 2019, they have to complete various challenges in form of quizzes through video streaming in YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and Netflix apps. The type of digital challenges in “Digi Race Competition 2019” is digital activities to test network quality and data access that have been fiberized. All types of challenges require participants to access data service with big capacity, such as video and music streaming, photo and video downloads and uploads, as well as gaming.
“XL Axiata’s network team specifically monitor all digital activities made by participants in a bid to know the ability of fiberized data network on all routes in the competition. Customers who are intensive users of data service will also give inputs to XL Axiata on the network quality that they experience throughout the competition. Therefore, this event is really part of XL Axiata’s efforts to increase the quality of data network, as well as to realize congestion-free data service access for customers at any place,” Yessie said.
Previously, the same event was successfully held in March 2019 in five big cities, namely Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Makassar, and Medan. The event was participated by 50 people from each city and was successfully followed by 3.5 million people through various social media and digital channels. The event is expected to give more inputs as the company’s reference to make improvements as an effort to maintain the quality of XL Axiata’s service in the future.