Jakarta, 21 April 2021. PT. XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) continues to move forward with the development of telecommunication and data network infrastructure to remote rural areas, especially outside Java. For that purpose, XL Axiata, among others, operates BTS built through the Universal Service Obligation (USO) scheme, in collaboration with the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) in a number of provinces, including South Sumatra, precisely in Musi Rawas Regency and Musi Rawas Utara Regency.
Director & Chief Technology Officer of XL Axiata, I Gede Darmayusa said, "There are two BTS USO points in South Sumatra that are currently operated by XL Axiata, one each in Musi Rawas and Musi Rawas Utara Regency. The two USO BTS began operating in December 2020 and have now opened telecommunication and data access for residents of the surrounding community. Before the USO BTS existed, the village where they lived had never been reached by a cellular network either for telephone or for the internet. "
The two USO BTS points are respectively located in Sungai Kijang Village, Rawas Ulu District, Musi Rawas Utara Regency, which is about 40 km from the district capital in Muara Rupit or about 310 km from Palembang with a travel time of more than 8 hours by road. One other USO BTS point is in Bumi Makmur Village, Muara Lakitan District, Musi Rawas Regency which is almost 100 km from the district capital in Muara Beliti or more than 200 km from Palembang.
Prior to the existence of this USO network, to obtain telecommunication and data networks, the people of the two villages had to look for signals to other villages that were quite far away. Because the network does not yet exist, then only a small proportion of residents having only cellular phones. The livelihoods of the local village community are generally as farmers.
The USO network built using a satellite connection via BTS 2G and 4G with a tower as high as 30 meters. Each BTS can reach users up to a radius of 7 km and can serve customers at the same time up to 200 subscribers. To ensure that the XL Axiata network still has the quality of serving customers, in addition to direct visits by officers to the location, monitoring is also carried out through the network monitoring center at the XL Axiata head office.
"Even though it is in a remote area, we still ensure that the network at each point of the USO BTS is always maintained. In principle, we will serve our customers as best as possible wherever they are, whether in urban areas or those far away in rural areas and remote areas. Through the network monitoring center, we can always find out the network conditions at each USO BTS. If there is a disruption or decrease in service quality, we will immediately deal with it,” continued Gede.
After three months of operation, currently each USO BTS has served local residents. In Sungai Kijang Village and Bumi Makmur Village, there are hundreds of customers who are very active in utilizing telecommunication and data services. Traffic is also observed to continue to increase in line with the increasing understanding of the residents for the benefit of telecommunication and data networks, including to support economic and social activities. Residents get an XL Axiata sim card through kiosks around the village.
Until now, XL Axiata operates a total of 360 USO BTS in 360 villages, 60 regencies, and 17 provinces. XL Axiata will continue to strive to provide telecommunication and data services to communities in villages that previously had not been reached by these services.
The XL Axiata network is strengthened by more than 144,000 BTS, around 54,300 thousand of which are 4G BTS. This 4G network serves customers in 458 cities / regencies, in almost all provinces in the Republic of Indonesia. XL Axiata also continues to invest in fiber network, transmission, backhaul, network modernization, and various other network upgrades to increase stability, network capacity, and data service quality in line with increasing data service traffic.