XL Axiata records 40.1 million subscribers in 2010

JAKARTA: PT XL Axiata Tbk poses 40.1 million subscribers until the end of 2010 or soared by 27.7% compared to the same period last year at 31.4 million subscribers.XL Axiatas President Director, Hasnul Suhaimi said that such hike mainly took place in the fourth quarter of 2010.In the last three months of 2010, we recorded a significant hike over the number of our customers, mainly in Central Java and Yogyakarta, he said yesterday.According to Hasul, this years hike will unlikely as high as last year particularly since Indonesias cellular market begin to feel saturated as it has controlled 90% of the Indonesians.He further added that this year his company set the target of customer growth at 11%-12%, meaning the XLs customers may reach 44.5-44.9 million by the end of 2011. We always expect to book above 10% growth.Hasnul explained that XLs strategy in the future will no longer focus on the tariff of voice services and short message services (sms) considering it keep reducing the proportion of such services since last year. If we still focus on the tariffs of both services, XLs service qualities will somehow being sacrificed. Besides, seeing the minimum growth of sim-card this year, I dont think that there is a benefit if we reduce our tariff especially if the number of new customers is small, he affirmed.According to him, XL will prefer to focus on the data services that keep recording significant growth this year. Hasnul said that data services gave 9%-10% contribution over the companys total revenue in 2010.This year, such contribution is expected to further grow by 15% for the minimum target and 20% for the maximum target. Thoroughly, the revenue growth in 2010 reached above 20%. We cannot state the exact figure yet as we are still waiting for the result of auditing process, Hasnul said.Based on Bisniss data, XL apparently booked a significant growth as per Q3/2010. The company posted IDR13 trillion revenue or rose by 32% compared to the same period previous year.In the meantime, XLs net income skyrocketed by 73% compared to the same period in the 2009, amounting IDR2.1 trillion. XL prepared US$500 million capital expenditure which will be used to construct 1,500-2,000 units of base transceiver station (BTS), enhance its network capacity and build fiber optic.Such capex measurement is relatively moderate. We can revise it anytime supposed we require more funds. We utilize internal funds for the capex realization, said Hasnul. (t02/wiw)