Smartfren, Telecommunication Company From Sinar Mas Group Owned By Conglomerate Eka Tjipta Widjaja Records 34.4 Million Number Of Subscribers In First Quarter 2022

Photo: Doc. Sinar Mas

JAKARTA - The telecommunication company from the Sinar Mas group belonging to the late Eka Tjipta Widjaja conglomerate, PT Smartfren Telecom Tbk (FREN) recorded an increase in the number of subscribers by 22.4 percent in the first quarter of 2022. The number in that period has reached 34.4 million compared to the same period. the previous year as much as 28.1 million.

In the company's presentation, quoted on Thursday, July 14, this number even jumped almost three times compared to 2018. In which, the average revenue per user (ARPU) was IDR 25.000.

Meanwhile, Smartfren already has 42.500 base transceiver stations (BTS) in the first quarter of 2022 with a network covering 200 cities. In addition, its 100 percent 4G LTE telecommunications network can be accessed 24 hours.

The increase in the number of customers is also in line with the company's revenue which increased 11.3 percent from IDR 2.4 trillion in the first quarter of 2021 to IDR 2.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2022.

In terms of revenue, the company has managed to improve its performance from year to year. For example, in 2018 the company's revenue was IDR 5.4 trillion, then increased to IDR 6.9 trillion in 2019, IDR 9.4 trillion in 2020, and 2021 has reached IDR 10.4 trillion.

In line with that, Smartfren also managed to score a net profit of IDR 25 billion in the first quarter of 2022 or grew 106 percent compared to the same period the previous year which still suffered a loss of IDR 397 billion. This achievement was achieved after 14 years of building with an investment of around 4.5 billion-5 billion US dollars.

Even though the company's performance had lost since 2018-2021. In 2018, the company suffered a loss of IDR 3.53 trillion, then IDR 2.19 trillion in 2019, then IDR 1.5 trillion in 2020, and in 2021 a net loss of IDR 410 billion.

Meanwhile, in terms of EBITDA, the company also recorded a significant growth, which was 47 percent year on year (YoY). Where in the first quarter of 2021 the EBITDA margin was still at 33.5 percent or IDR 800 billion and then increased to 44.3 percent or IDR 1.1 trillion in the first quarter of 2022.