Notes

XL Axiata and Ericsson to Collaborate for Network Upgrade

XL Axiata, one of the Indonesia’s largest telecommunications providers, signed a three year contract with Swedish vendor, Ericsson for proper implementation and strengthening of LTE services and for the appraisal of network services in Jakarta and central Java.

The contract between the two major companies also stipulate the provisions of hardware, software and services to all Axiata companies all over the world, including on of its latest acquisition which was once XL’s smaller rivals, Axis Capital Group. The LTE provision is expected to improve network connection and internet speed, which are two major challenges in the archipelago because of the increasing number of competition.

XL has already expressed its goal to achieve 8 to 10 million LTE subscribers by the end of next year. Its collaboration with one of the world’s largest telecommunications vendors would certainly gear the company up for the achievement of this goal.

It is also expected that Ericsson would be able to bring new changes, gadgets and modern technological developments to the new partner company. The full implementation of the fourth generation (4G) network which has been implemented last December, 2014, is also anticipated to cover other islands of the archipelago.

Both companies expressed their vigor on partnering with one another. Ericsson has also noted the great potential seen in the country where millions of users are known to reside. It seems the warnings of the increasing number of fraudulent activities in the country were not able to faze the Swedish company of the good impression of Indonesia.

Ericsson is also expecting the further growth of Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, which is evidently still raw in Asia-Pacific region.

In a separate review, David Hägerbro, Key Account Manager, Ericsson stated, “XL Axiata shares our belief that M2M will play a major part in the growth of connected devices over the next few years. This enabled us to build a strong strategic partnership and provide a focused offering."

Ericsson has offered XL Axiata a Device Connection Platform (DCP), which is an opportunity for XL to increase revenue, decrease operational cost and shorten product-to-market time frame. With this shared vision of integration of DCP to M2M, a good business value is known to emerge between the two. Efficiency and effectivity of both parties are totally dependent on the upcoming integration.

Technical Assistance is also to be offered in addition to the DCP program which would technically improve sales and management.