Entering the 1st of Ramadan 1438H, Muslims around the world start fasting. Especially in Indonesia, Ramadan is a special moment not only for the Muslims but also the industry players, including mobile operators. This May, they are required to test the network. This is done to determine the quality and ensure telecommunication services remain smoothly in the holy month.
The activities are coordinated by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Indonesian Telecommunication Regulatory Agency (BRTI) with the Indonesian Cellular Telecommunication Association (ATSI) and all cellular operators (Telkomsel, Indosat, XL, H3I, SmartFren, SmartTel, Sampoerna Telekom).
They have prepared the Telecommunication and Broadcasting Fields to ensure telecommunication network performance and broadcasting readiness. Especially to overcome the increase and movement of traffic during Lebaran and Lebaran backflow 2017 including Pos readiness and support related community components such as ORARI and RAPI.
Network Operator Readiness in Ramadan 1438H
1. Telkomsel
The cellular operators of Telkom and SingTel subsidiaries have a total of approximately 11,000 km in network test this year. On the other hand, Telkomsel has operated 4G LTE service in nearly 500 district capitals. Gizmologi took part in the network test with the route of Surabaya – Malang.
Telkomsel predicts that there will be a surge in communications traffic in data services in the area of homecoming lane and tourist destination when compared with ordinary day traffic. Traffic spikes in data services ranged from 20% to 25% through 5809 Tera Byte. While voice services are predicted to decline between -3% to -6% to 1.37 billion minutes, and SMS ranges from -1% to -3% to 720 million SMS.
To anticipate this, Telkomsel conducted a series of network optimization activities, such as maintaining the availability of VLR (Visitor Location Register) or the adequacy of customer capacity. Along the main route of homecoming in Java Island and Sumatera has provided 35% – 60% of slaughter, such as West Java by 38%, Central Java by 48% and East Java by 57% and South Sumatra by 58%.
Telkomsel has also identified 838 hotspots or POIs (Point of Interest) covering Airports, Bus Terminals, Train Stations, Docks, Hospitals, Population Solid Areas, Traditional Markets and Malls, where the locations are predicted to experience a spike in communications Which is quite high during Ramadan and Lebaran. A total of 65 entry points in the POI Digital category is POIs with locations where customers receive digital lifestyle product, TCASH, and 2G trade-in devices and become the top priority of network security so customers can conveniently access data services used for video applications, Music, and games.
Telkomsel set up service point on 312 Mudik Lane and 526 Location Tour. To maximize capacity in these locations, Telkomsel alerted 89 COMBAT units (Compact Mobile Base Station) to improve customer convenience in accessing data services.
In addition, throughout the year Telkomsel continues to hold the development of BTS in various regions in Indonesia which are also expected to support the network during Ramadan and Lebaran. In the Lebaran period, Telkomsel subscribers will be serviced by 140,000 BTS across the country, of which more than 60% of them are broadband base stations (3G and 4G) capable of serving Internet bandwidth of 1687 Gbps (Gigabits per second).
On the service side, Telkomsel presents homecoming posts and service points at POI locations that have been identified to ensure that customer communication needs are maintained. In addition, all of Telkomsel’s existing service channels are also expected to function maximally during Ramadhan 1438H and Lebaran, including 84 GraPARI Telkomsel Siaga and 346 GraPARI Mitra Siaga, 487 Mobile GraPARI, 81 units of MyGraPARI self-service digital service and 359 Branch Office Distributor Partners (TDC ). At the same time, Telkomsel’s distributor partners are also on hand to maintain the availability of starter pack and reload voucher (mkios) through 3779 Standby Outlets.
Indosat Ooredoo
The operator of Ooredoo subsidiary (Qatar Telecom) stated its network readiness in serving customer communication needs during Ramadan 1438H and Lebaran for data, phone, and SMS. In addition to improving network capacity, Indosat Ooredoo also conducts nationwide telecommunications network monitoring through Indosat Ooredoo Network Operation Center (i-NOC) which operates 24 hours in 7 days. Approaching Lebaran Day, the company will activate the Command Center which performs more intensive network quality monitoring to keep customers’ comfort in communicating with relatives.
Indosat Ooredoo predicts the increase in telecommunication traffic during Ramadan 1438H and Lebaran 2017 for data services will increase 69% compared to regular daily traffic along with the increasing trend of social media usage. Telephone service is predicted to increase 8% compared to the peak traffic during Lebaran last year. Meanwhile, SMS traffic is predicted to fall by 4% from regular daily usage.
Facing a period of increasing telecommunication traffic during Ramadan 1438H and Lebaran 2017, Indosat Ooredoo network capacity has been upgraded including 7,344 Terabytes/day for data capacity, voice traffic to 37.5 million Erlang/day, and for SMS capacity increased to 1.9 Billion SMS / day. This capacity increase is prepared for 85.7 million Indosat Ooredoo customers supported by a total of 56,483 BTS nationwide.
Indosat Ooredoo also performs a network readiness test either independently or together with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology along the route and mudik destinations to ensure network conditions are ready for potential traffic spikes.
In addition to network capacity readiness, Indosat Ooredoo also ensures networking during Ramadan and Idul Fitri in a prime performance monitored and controlled from Indosat Ooredoo Network Operation Center (i-NOC) as Command Center.
The Command Center will operate a few days before and after the Idul Fitri period to proactively identify through the Performance Monitoring team even before a disturbance impacts the customer, and reactively through the Customer Service team so that any constraints can be resolved as soon as possible.
One more facility to be optimized is Indosat Ooredoo Service Operation Center (ISOC) to monitor the quality of service applications commonly used by customers such as Youtube, Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, Spotify, Iflix, and so forth. Through this facility, Indosat Ooredoo will ensure that not only the stability of the network but also the quality of each application is in good condition to support the homecoming and holiday activities of the customers.
XL Axiata
In line with the operators Telkomsel and Indosat Ooredoo, XL Axiata has also set up a network to meet customer needs during Ramadan 1438H and Lebaran 2017. A series of network test has been conducted in various areas, especially in areas that have increased traffic during Ramadan 1438H and holidays Length of Lebaran. Test this network as an early anticipation to ensure XL Axiata’s network capabilities in the face of the possibility of increased traffic of all types of services. To ensure the quality of network and service, XL Axiata will increase network capacity by 2-3 times in some homecoming location.
Test this network as an early anticipation to ensure XL Axiata’s network capabilities in the face of the possibility of increased traffic of all types of services. To ensure the quality of network and service, XL Axiata will increase network capacity by 2-3 times in some homecoming location.
XL Axiata will increase network capacity up to 2-3 times in some homecoming locations compared to normal days. In particular, they will also utilize MME and MSS in Pool technology on core networks that will make it easier to divert capacity from overcapacity areas to areas requiring additional capacity.
The network test that XL Axiata team has done independently, among others, has been done on the north and south trains of Jakarta – Surabaya, Java north coast toll road, south Java Road, North and south of Madura crossing west, central and south of Sumatra, Lintas Balikpapan – Samarinda, Lintas Banjarmasin – Palangkaraya, Banjarmasin – Barabai, Lintas Pontianak – Singkawang, and Gilimanuk – Denpasar – Padang Bai. Currently, XL Axiata network team is also continuing to make necessary preparations in various areas.
Network test according to the standard suggested by the government is done by doing drive test and customer experience test. The devices used are TEMS (test mobile system) for the network drive test and smartphone for customer experience test. In this network test, the vehicles used to run at normal speeds.
The provision of quality networks for XL Axiata services also adapts to the conditions of major transportation routes, both on Java and on other islands. XL Axiata will strengthen the network, especially in locations that have the potential to become density points of the community, either in order to go home or go home or vacation in various regions in Indonesia.
These locations include popular tourist destinations, crowded centers such as shopping centers, transportation facilities such as airports, bus terminals, train stations, as well as seaports. The XL Axiata team will also be on standby on the main route back home in various areas, especially along the Java North Coast line and the South road which is prone to congestion.
Note:
For other operators such as Smartfren, Tri, and others, we have not gained any network readiness data yet. We will update as soon as we get it.
