XL Axiata of Indonesia will spend USD250 million in 2016 to further develop its 4G LTE infrastructure, according to its president, Dian Siswarini, as quoted by IndoTelko. ‘We [are allocating] approximately USD250 million this year to boost 4G access, expand coverage and ensure quality of service. XL is also starting to prepare the ground for 4.5G (LTE-A),’ Siswarini said. Echoing these comments, Rahmadi Mulyohartono, vice-president for LTE at XL, added: ‘We have already implemented 4T4R (4-transmit-4-receiver) technology, which is an advanced version of 4G technology … Our target is to make 4.5G services available commercially in 2017.’ XL’s plan is in line with the government’s ambition to have LTE-A commercially available in time for the Asian Games in Jakarta, in 2018. Rahmadi notes that 4T4R technology uses ‘a combination of multiple signals, which simultaneously combines four signals transmit and four receive signals, enabling the delivery of high capacity data at speeds up to 210Mbps with a bandwidth of 15MHz. 4T4R technology is currently being deployed in Greater Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Denpasar he said, and will continue to be developed into other cities.
As reported by CommsUpdate, XL Axiata announced in early August that eight million subscribers were using its 4G network. The cellco, which launched LTE services in the country in December 2014, currently covers 86 districts via a grid comprising 5,358 base transceiver stations (BTS), and it is aiming to extend this coverage to an additional 100 towns and cities by the end of 2016 with more than 6,500 on-air BTS. The most recent cities added include Karawang, Cilegon, Serang City and District, Regency Pandeglang, Lebak, the City and County of Malang and Batu.