JAKARTA, Indonesia, November 12 /PRNewswire/ --
- Indonesian Mobile Market to Become Even More Dynamic and Competitive
AXIS and PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk (XL) have today signed a Memorandum
of Understanding for national roaming, the first such agreement of its kind
in the region. The technical implementation of this agreement will follow
regulation determined by the Indonesian regulator. Similar to other
partnership formed among mobile operators, the regulator has also supported
this partnership initiative led by AXIS and XL. The agreement will give AXIS'
customers full access to XL's network in Sumatera, followed by Kalimantan and
Sulawesi. AXIS will maintain control of its own customers throughout,
regardless of whether or not they roam onto XL's network infrastructure.
The agreement will commence in Q1 2010, with AXIS' own aggressive
national network expansion for both voice and data continuing in parallel.
This agreement builds on the existing partnership between the two companies
as AXIS already leases a significant proportion of Towers from XL's portfolio.
Erik Aas, President Director and CEO for AXIS said: "This is a
groundbreaking agreement for the country, not only enhancing the choice and
affordability of mobile services throughout Indonesia but also accelerating
market growth." He added, "Indonesia's mobile industry has experienced a
period of rapid change, with innovation continuing to evolve our wireless
market. Our agreement with XL is a clear example of this innovation and we
are proud to join forces and demonstrate such strong leadership through our
national roaming agreement."
Speaking about the partnership, Hasnul Suhaimi, President Director XL
said, "Although XL and AXIS are competing operators, we are happy to
collaborate in order to deliver a better mobile service experience to
Indonesian subscribers. We believe that through our agreement with AXIS we
will be able to deliver a sustained, high quality of service to both sets of
customers as they take advantage of our abundant network capacity."
About AXIS
AXIS launched in February 2008 and is already available in over 190
cities across East Java, West Java, Jabodetabek, Banten, West Java, Bali,
Lombok, North Sumatera, Riau Islands, Riau Mainland, and West Sumatera with
more launching soon. In July 2009 the company launched "AXIS Worry-Free
BlackBerry Service" to help its subscribers with enhanced communications and
empower them to make the most of their time wherever they go. AXIS' vision is
to provide affordable communications to all Indonesians and offer 2G and 3G
services. AXIS is owned by
Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the no. 1 GSM operator in Saudi Arabia, and
by Maxis Communications, the no. 1 GSM operator in Malaysia. Together, these
companies serve more than 45 million customers with operations in 9
countries. Detailed information about AXIS is available at
http://www.axisworld.co.id.
About XL
XL is one of the major cellular providers in Indonesia. XL owns an
extensive fiber optic backbone network. Started its commercial operations in
October 1996, XL's business consists of Consumer Solutions as triple band
(900/1800/1900) cellular network and service provider and Business Solutions
as corporate service provider. On 21 September 2006, XL launched XL 3G, the
first fastest and widest cellular telecommunication services based on 3G
technology. XL majority owned by Axiata Group Berhad through Indocel Holding
Sdn Bhd (83,8%) and Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat)
through Etisalat International Indonesia Ltd (16%), and public (0.2%). As
part of Axiata Group with Aktel (Bangladesh), HELLO (Cambodia), Idea (India),
MTCE (Iran), Celcom (Malaysia), Multinet (Pakistan), M1 (Singapore), Samart
(Thailand) and Dialog (Sri Lanka), to advancing Asia. Additional information
can be found at http://www.XL.co.id
SOURCE AXIS