Indonesian mobile operator Telkomsel has announced that it is extending its 4G LTE coverage to more areas of the country.
The new areas covered include East Flores Regency and East Nusa Tenggara Province, which in turn includes remote areas such as Adonara Barat District and Woloklibang Village, which is on Adonara Island.
As a result of the network expansion, Telkomsel says it has deployed no fewer than 1,279 base transceiver stations (BTS), serving more than 90 percent of the population of East Nusa Tenggara Province.
As we reported in these pages in March, Telkomsel surpassed its 4G deployment goals during 2019, deploying around 23,000 4G BTS across the country.
Telkomsel’s 4G LTE coverage now serves more than 95 per cent of the population, which is probably just as well given growing demand; local news reports indicated that Telkomsel saw its mobile data traffic soar during the Eid al-Fitr holiday on 24 and 25 May, as customers connected with family and friends over the Muslim holiday during lockdown.
Mobile data use will no doubt continue to grow, which may explain why Telkomsel has aggressive rollout plans for this year as well; it intends to continue its 4G rollout, including implementing LTE technology in the 900MHz band, reaching new areas and achieving greater speeds. VoLTE access technology, carrier aggregation and NB-IoT are also to be trialled.
Telkomsel is 65 percent-owned by the country’s dominant fixed line services provider Telkom.