XL Axiata has announced that its fixed broadband ‘XL SATU Fiber’ service is now live in 63 cities and regencies across the country, with Batam City being the latest area to be served. The figure compares with a total of 53 reported by the operator at end-March 2023.
In a press release the company confirmed the selection of the latest launch, noting: ‘Batam City was chosen in consideration of the enthusiasm of Batam residents who asked for XL SATU Fiber services as well as the high level of visits to the website and social media. Besides being located on an international shipping lane, the city is very close to and directly adjacent to Singapore and Malaysia, making it very potential to market high speed internet services. In Batam City, XL SATU Fiber service can be enjoyed by customers since 26 June 2023.’ With fibre broadband now available in almost all districts across the city, XL Axiata plans to forge ahead with its national rollout which has already taken in major cities such as Jabodetabek, Bandung, Cirebon, Semarang, Surabaya, Pontianak, Makassar, Balikpapan, Samarinda, Manado and others.
Augmenting the rollout, meanwhile, XL Axiata has revealed it is deploying fibre-to-the-room (FTTR) technology in partnership with Huawei to strengthen in-building coverage. The adoption of FTTR technology has been undertaken to prevent speed degradation arising in Wi-Fi networks that are less able to penetrate barriers, such as walls, and home partitions that ‘adversely affect the customer experience’.