Jakarta, March 23th , 2020. PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) experienced a significant spike in traffic during the week when people started working and studying from home. Data from the Customer Experience and Service Operation Center show quite a sharp increase in all data services nationwide, averaging around 10 percent compared to normal days. Access to apps to support work and study from home became customers’ favorite, recording the highest increase in traffic of 48%. Meanwhile, from the location perspective, Jabodetabek recorded a traffic increase of 6%.
XL Axiata Acting Chief Teknologi Officer, I Gede Darmayusa, said “Outside of Eid Al-Fitr and Christmas/ New Year, this represents the highest data traffic increase. Its peak reached 15% higher than normal days, mainly driven by access to data services to support working and studying from home. Additionally, customers in various regions have been utilizing XL Axiata’s support program of providing 2 GB of free access to certain data services every day. We will continue monitoring the latest situation and condition, in order to further prepare the network to anticipate every possibility in the coming days."
Until the past week, Gede said that his company has not increased existing network capacity because it had already been prepared to accommodate traffic increase up to 2x higher than normal. However, the option to increase capacity according to customers’ needs is always available. XL Axiata also stands ready to maintain network quality by deploying every means necessary, just like when dealing with the traffic surge during Eid Al-Fitr. These include deploying mobile BTS (MBTS) to locations that need them, as well as re-routing traffic to a less burdened network.
Consecutively, the highest increase in data service according to type were recorded by Ruang Guru by 48%, Netflix by 46%, Facebook by 11%, WhatsApp by 10%, and Mobile Legend by 8%. Aside from Ruang Guru, in the category of apps to support work and study from home, Google Classroom also recorded a high increase in traffic of 2,354%, Brainly 84%, Zenius 54%, and Udemy 44%.
As for the social media, where the public and customers monitor the latest development and information regarding the Covid-19 outbreak, the highest increase in traffic was seen in Facebook of 11%, Instagram of 2%, YouTube of 3%, and Twitter of 3%. Web browsing access also rose by 2%, including traffic to websites providing information about Covid-19. Online news portal apps which provide updates on the major event also recorded increase by an average of 8%.
Instant messenger apps saw an uptick of traffic as well, such as WhatsApp by 10%, Line by 1%, and Telegram by 12%. While staying at home and social distancing, customers also accessed a number of entertainment services like games, which increased by 6%, and video streaming (Netflix, Hooq), which increased by 38%.
During the week working and studying from home, the number of customers going overseas and foreign customers coming to Indonesia decreased. Outbound customers were down by 41%, while inbound customers were down by 16%.
As for location, aside form Jabodetabek, significant increase of data traffic also occurred in Barru Regency by 19%, Bulukumba Regency by 18%, Pinrang Regency in South Sulawesi Province by 18%, South Labuhan Batu Regency in North Sumatera by 16%, and Dompu Regency in West Nusa Tenggara Province by 15%.
With the continuous spread of the Covid-19 virus to various regions, XL Axiata is prepared to maintain network quality in all of its service areas. Until the end of 2019, XL Axiata’s network is supported by more than 130,000 BTS, including more than 40,000 4G BTS in 425 municipalities/ regencies. Network fiberization has been done to more than 50% of the total BTS in various provinces in Indonesia.