JAKARTA, JANUARY 6, 2025. PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) successfully managed and served an increase in data demand from customers over the Christmas and New Year 2025 holidays (Nataru). Monitoring data from December 24, 2024 to January 2, 2025 revealed that the average service traffic rose by 19% compared to usual days. The peak in service traffic came on New Year's Eve at the tourist location Sarangan, with a 208% increase over typical days. As projected, streaming services led the traffic rise, as they have in prior years. Although voice services fell 15%, SMS services rose 11% compared to regular days.
Gede Darmayusa, XL Axiata's Director and Chief Technology Officer, stated, "XL Axiata has been preparing its network well in advance to serve and ensure the comfort of consumers during the lengthy Nataru vacation. This promise underlines XL Axiata's commitment to ensuring the quality and convenience of services during the holidays. As expected, there was a large increase in data traffic due to increased movement across various locations as people celebrated and enjoyed the Christmas and New Year holidays."
Gede added, "We are particularly glad that the network quality remained excellent over the holiday season, with no substantial disruptions, thanks to the proactive measures taken in advances, as part of our commitment to #JadiLebihBaik. These included increasing capacity by up to two times, installing mobile BTS (MBTS), establishing backup generators with fuel supplies in disaster-prone locations, and ensuring we were prepared to divert network traffic in afflicted areas to surrounding networks.
XL Axiata's data also revealed a surge in digital activity among customers over the Nataru holiday season. Data traffic in residential areas of Jabodetabek and other major cities surged by around 18% compared to regular days. On a nationwide scale, traffic increased the most in East Lombok Regency 34%, Central Lombok Regency 31%, and Bogor Regency 23%.
The provinces with the biggest traffic increases were Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara 21%, followed by East Java 18%, South and Central Kalimantan 17%, and West Java, Central Java, and Yogyakarta 16%. Sumatra's average traffic increase was 13%, while Sulawesi's was 15%.
Popular tourist destinations also saw significant increases in data traffic. Traffic in Yogyakarta's Malioboro district soared by 115% over regular days. Traffic in the Sarangan area of East Java increased by 208%. Meanwhile, traffic in Labuan Bajo (East Nusa Tenggara) grew by 6.49%, Bromo (East Java) by 294%, Kuta Beach in Badung, Bali, by 67%, Puncak Bogor by 50%, and Lake Toba by 106%.
Approximately 500 thousand XL Axiata customers travelled abroad to take advantage of XL Axiata's programs during the Nataru holidays, representing a 7% increase over the previous year. Malaysia was the most popular destination.
Streaming dominates
Streaming was the most common type of data service traffic during the Nataru period, followed by web browsing and file access. Streaming traffic climbed by 28% over regular days, while gaming traffic increased by 49%.
On popular social media platforms, Facebook traffic increased by 6% and Instagram traffic by 20% over usual days. YouTube traffic surged by 18%, while TikTok traffic increased by 31%. Messaging services also experienced a rise, with WhatsApp traffic up 11%.
Following this, for Music streaming traffic increased by 21% over average days. In gaming, FreeFire recorded a huge rise 105%, followed by Roblox 88%, and Mobile Legends 22%. Among film streaming services, Vidio traffic increased by 137%, Viu by 106%, and Netflix by 98%. As is typical during long holidays, traffic to navigation services also rose. Waze GPS traffic surged by 24%, Google Maps by 18%, and Apple Maps traffic remained at typical levels.
For the XL SATU service had a 5% increase in traffic over typical days, while First Media saw a 2% increase. This is explained by many people preferring to spend their Christmas and New Year's holidays at home.
XL Axiata currently serves over 58.6 million consumers, with more than 165,000 BTS, most of which are 4G. Its massive fibre optic backbone spans over 190,000 kilometres, supporting a data network that connects Indonesia's huge archipelago. XL Axiata continues to invest in fibre networks, transmission, backhaul, network modernisation, and other enhancements to improve network stability, capacity, and data service quality in response to rising demand for data services.