MEDIA RELEASE PR37070
AXIS and XL Sign Indonesia's First National Roaming Agreement
JAKARTA, Nov 12/ PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
- 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
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
SOURCE: AXIS
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