XL Revenue Turnaround in H1-2013

Ilustrasi (DOK)

JAKARTA (IndoTelko) – PT XL Axiata Tbk. (XL)  announced its audited results for the first half of 2013 with a successful turnaround in revenue growth after two consecutive quarters of decline.

XL recorded a revenue growth of 1% YoY (Year-on-Year) to Rp10.3 trillion, driven by strong data traction with data revenue growth of 13% and non-voice now contributing 53% of total usage revenue.

President Director of XL, Hasnul Suhaimi said, “Our performance in this quarter marks a successful revenue turnaround after two consecutive quarters of decline. This is evident from our revenue growth of 5% as well as an increase in the number of subscribers by 10% QoQ (Quarter-on-Quarter). We remained flexible yet focused in our strategy after the challenges we had in the third quarter last year. The steady operational improvements are the result of careful execution and we plan to keep this momentum going whilst further strengthening our positioning in market.”

Hasnul added, “XL continues to focus on data as the fastest growing segment with increased contribution to revenue. We remain optimisic with the huge opportunity in data in which XL is well positioned to capture future growth. As of 1H 13, Data revenue contributed 22% compared to 19% previous year. In addition, Data traffic grew 88% year on year with data subscribers now reached 32 million subscribers or close to 59% of the total base.”

With the strategy to improve data affordability and expand its data penetration, XL Bebas, launched early this year with monthly cost of Rp5,000/month for 6 months active period, has shown continued traction into the 2Q 13. Furthermore, aimed at strengthening XL’s data position in social networking community, XL has collaborated with KakaoTalk which allows XL users to use KakaoTalk at an affordable tariff and further driving data usage.

To support the growing data demand, XL has invested in extensive data infrastructure to ensure superior data experience for its customers. With the accelerated rollout of Node Bs and investment in data infrastructure peaked in 2012, this year XL will focus on capacity management, network optimisation and efforts to further increase network utilization. Focused on returns, investments are carefully prioritized in data potential areas.

XL ended 1H 13 with 41,293 BTS including 14,186 Node Bs with an aim to provide improved data experience to its customers. In addition, with the increased traffic expected in the upcoming Lebaran, XL has stepped up its effort in network deployment to ensure the good quality and service experience to customers during this peak season.

XL continues to enhance its network quality and capacity through Network Modernization. Since 2011, XL has carried out 2G and 3G modernization in areas of Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali and greater Jakarta. The modernization projects upgraded its 2G and 3G BTS to single RAN and LTE-ready aimed at improving better network speed, capacity and energy efficiency. As of 1H 13, XL has completed 2G & 3G modernization for close to 4,000 sites across Indonesia.

Hasnul said, “With an aim to improve its positioning, XL carefully executed its win back strategy by introducing several innovative offerings in XLKU, Paket Serbu and Bebas that have been popular with customers and enabled XL to regain its subscribers growth in market. The results are very encouring with continued strong traction in subscribers’ growth of 10% QoQ to 54.2 mn subscribers.”

Though still at an incubation stage, Digital Services is growing its appeal to customers through creative and innovative data related offerings providing further reason to use data. XL continuously seeks to explore further opportunities in data beyond traditional telecommunication services. The strong traction in data growth, will in turn fuel the growth of digital services such as in the areas of mobile finance, m-commerce and M2M.

XL Tunai which allows flexibility to XL’s customers for money remittance, online payment, online shopping and other payments has been further enhanced by collaborating with Telkomsel and Indosat. This allows P2P transfer which enable users to transfer across operators via XL Tunai and expanding reach to more than 200 million subscribers across the three large operators. Furthermore, XL is the first operator to launch communication service that can be used to have information about users’ vehicle condition and performance through XL – Vast (Vehicle Assistant).

As of 1H 13, Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) was at Rp4.2 trillion with EBITDA margin at 40% and net profit at Rp670 billion in 1H 13.

In expanding the data infrastructure, XL has invested Rp4 trillion in 1H 13 which was funded through a combination of internally generated funds and debt.
During 2Q 13, XL signed new USD loan agreements with Standard Chartered bank in May 2013 amounted to USD 50 million. As of 1H 13, XL’s total debt increased to Rp17.1 trillion from Rp12.7 trillion a year ago and Net Debt/EBITDA increased from 1.2x to 1.7x.(es)