Telkom Indonesia which owns Telkomsel, the largest mobile operator in the country, posted net income of IDR12.1 trillion (USD907.7 million) in the first half of 2017, a sharp 21.9% jump from IDR9.84 trillion (USD738.1 million) during the year before.
It recorded total revenue IDR64.0 trillion (USD4.8 billion), an increase of 13.4% from IDR56.45 trillion (USD4.2 billion) last year. As a result of manageable operating expenses, Telkom's EBITDA increased by 15.4% YoY to IDR33.2 trillion (USD2.49 billion) with EBITDA margin improved to 51.9% from 51.0% last year.
Data, Internet & IT Services revenues increased significantly by 19.8% YoY primarily attributable to strong mobile and fixed broadband services. The segment overtook Cellular Voice & SMS segment as the largest revenue contributor, representing 42.4% of total revenue.
Telkomsel
Telkomsel continued to maintain its strong performance for the first half of 2017 by delivering triple-double-digit growth in revenues, EBITDA and Net Income at 11.9%, 14.0% and 15.6% year-onyear, respectively.
Telkomsel posted net profit of IDR15.5 trillion (USD1.1 billion) during the period, up 15.6% from IDR13.4 trillion (USD1.0 billion) in 1H16.
Revenues grew to IDR45,995 billion (USD3.36 billion) supported by Digital Business which posted 26.9% YoY growth, driven by Data which increased by 26.3% YoY and Digital Services which increased by 32.7% YoY.
This solid performance is supported by Digital Business as one of engine of growth which accounted for 39.3% of total revenues, increased significantly from 34.6% a year ago.
Despite saturated market, Telkomsel was able to have a healthy growth in subscriber base of 13.1% YoY to 178 million due to intensive sales and marketing.
Capex and Network Upgrades
For the first half of 2017, Telkom Group spent IDR13.0 trillion (USD973 million) in Capital Expenditure (Capex).
Telkomsel deployed 17,538 new BTS during first half of 2017 with all of BTS were 3G and 4G BTS. Its data traffic increased by 118.7% to 827,800 TB mainly fueled by high growth in 3G/4G capable devices that are 50.5% of its customer base.
While in fixed businesses, Capex was used primarily to develop access and backbone infrastructure, including satellite and submarine cable systems (IGG and SEA-US) to support fixed as well as mobile broadband businesses.
