Telkomsel as the largest cellular operator in Indonesia is betting high on the future of mobile data business. It targets to reach 66 million mobile data users by the end of the year, from 40 million listed on first quarter of 2012. Currently Telkomsel has 110 million users all around Indonesia, as reported by Chip [link in Indonesian].
If this goal achieved, more than 50 percent of Telkomsel subscribers is having mobile data package installed. Telkomsel is among top 15 operator in the world, based on the number of subscribers, with China Mobile stays on top of the list.
Telkomsel acknowledges that mobile data will be an important revenue component for the company, as its income from voice and text messaging is declining every year. The number of mobile data revenue is not revealed, but Telkomsel admits to have 9% increase in revenue with significant portion from mobile data subscription.
To achieve the goal, it continues to develop infrastructure all over the country, with around 10,000 3G BTS have been set up. The company plans to enlarge its “broadband cities” from 48 to 100 cities by the end of the year. Telkomsel also did some trials on LTE, although it won’t be rolled over this year. It’s predicted that LTE will be coming to Indonesia in 2014.
This number represents simple fact that most people in Indonesia connect to the Internet using their mobile devices. With geographical difficulties in this archipelago, it’s understandable why the number of mobile Internet usage is larger than fixed broadband one. This fact brings more opportunity as current trend leads to mobile app (or mobile web) development.