Jakarta, March 26th 2020. PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) fully supports the National Disaster Management Agency or known by the local people as Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) in handling the outbreak of the Corona virus (COVID-19) in Indonesia. The support comes in various forms of assistance, from telecommunications and data services, network strengthening within number of hospital locations, along with the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE/APD). The support was officiated symbolically, as the Group Head Corporate Communications of XL Axiata, Tri Wahyuningsih handed aid to BNPB in Jakarta, Thursday (03/26).
Group Head Corporate Communications of XL Axiata, Tri Wahyuningsih, said “This support program is a form of XL Axiata’s participation in a nation-wide mutual cooperation with all elements of the Indonesian society in preventing the spread of COVID-19. With the XL Axiata infrastructure network placed throughout Indonesia even to remote areas, it will be useful as a means of communication and data connectivity for the BNPB team to facilitate and support their coordination throughout the country.”
Deputy of Prevention and Preparedness of BNPB, Lilik Kurniawan, ST. MSi, stated “All of us at BNPB welcomes the support XL Axiata has provided to help our efforts in handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. Right now the government and of course, all of us BNPB really need a lot of support and participation from various parties, especially in the form of personal protective equipment (PPE/APD), access to make it easy for us to continue/sustain connectivity with our teams that are located throughout Indonesia. Our hope is that we can all work together to help each other in dealing with the problems that are currently occurring in this country.
In details, support from XL Axiata comes in the form of telecommunications and data services, which consist of free access for telephone, SMS and data/internet usage, as well as the use of Microsoft Office facilities. For this purpose, BNPB have received 550 starter packs of XL Axiata subscriptions with a monthly package of 50,000 (thousand) IDR for 3 months. Furthermore, XL Axiata will also strengthen its’ telecommunications and data networks in the area of Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, Jakarta, which is currently being functioned as an emergency hospitals, specifically for COVID-19 patients, and areas in which hospitals that focus on handling COVID-19 are located. One unit of Mobile BTS will also be dispatched to support communications between media officers and patients starting this week. This support program also entails 100 units of personal protective equipment/gears (PPE/APD) for paramedics.
Also included in this contribution, XL Axiata also sent out text message (SMS) blasts from BNPB to customers, which contains information on handling COVID-19, as well as socialization and education materials related to the outbreak of this dangerous virus. Through this effort, XL Axiata customers and the wider community can receive credible information on the latest developments/updates relating this pandemic, and how to handle the situation, which includes information on safety procedures that can be conducted if and when a member of the community is suspected to be infected or carrying the virus, and information on which hospitals are handling COVID-19 patients in various regions.
“We will remain open and transparent to cooperate with various government agencies/organizations in handling the outbreak of COVID-19 in accordance with our field of competence or expertise in the telecommunications industry. We will also continue to monitor developments as we prepare other support or assistance that we are able to provide. Previously, XL Axiata also gave free access to the official website covid19.go.id for XL Axiata subscribers." added Tri Wahyuningsih.
Previously, XL Axiata have also been assisting the government in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak. One of the company’s efforts was shown through programs that support work and learning activities from home according to the existing prevention procedures that are in place. This program provides customers with additional daily data quota (2GB) for free, in order to access a number of applications to help productivity while working and studying from home. The free quota can also be used by customers to access information about handling the Corona virus spread from official sources through the Ministry of Health (https://infeksiemerging.kemkes.go.id/), and the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta (https://corona.jakarta.go.id/). Customers are also able to contact the COVID-19 hotline through the existing emergency channels (119 and 112) free of charge.