JAKARTA - Ahead of the long Christmas and New Year's (Nataru) holidays, PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) has ensured network readiness in the face of a possible spike in traffic in all services. Based on the spike in traffic in previous years, XL Axiata predicts there will be a 2-3-fold increase in traffic compared to the average traffic at normal conditions on weekdays, and an increase of about 25 percent compared to last year's Nataru traffic.
Based on the 2022 Ministry of Transportation survey, it is estimated that there will be a potential movement of around 44.17 million people during Nataru, which is expected to contribute to increasing traffic in the use of telecommunications and data services.
XL Axiata's Director & Chief Technology Officer, I Gede Darmayusa said, to ensure that customers get the best service, XL Axiata has prepared a network with a capacity of 2 times greater than normal days.
"The XL Axiata team has also identified cities prone to a surge in traffic, including tourist destinations, crowded centers, and residential areas. The XL Axiata team has also prepared diversion engineering or traffic breakdown in case of congestion in an area. Thus, a surge in traffic in a location will not cause a decrease in service quality to customers," he said in a written statement, Tuesday, December 20.
According to Gede, areas or locations that will also experience a high traffic increase are thought to occur in several areas that are the movement route for travelers. The technical team XL Axiata estimates that massive movements will be concentrated on the homecoming route via the Trans Java and Trans Sumatra toll roads which will experience an increase in traffic of 10-20 percent.
Likewise non-toll roads, namely Pantura to Pansela. Starting on New Year's Eve, it is estimated that increased traffic will also occur in tourist attractions to crowded centers celebrating the turn of the year, along with the hectic campaign invitations for domestic travel.
XL Axiata has also prepared no less than 65 BTS mobile units (MBTS) at various locations that require support for strengthening signal quality, especially in West Java, Sumatra, and Bali. The locations in question include main transportation routes, tourist destinations, crowded centers, to bus terminals, train stations, and airports.
"We have also prepared anticipation if at any time an unexpected accident occurs, such as floods, earthquakes, and so on which are catastrophic in nature, which has the potential to cause a power supply cut to BTS-BTS. For this reason, our team in the field will be on standby 24 hours during this holiday period, as well as a team that continues to monitor network conditions throughout the XL Axiata service area through the XL Axiata - Customer Experience and Service Operation Center (CE&SOC) service monitoring center located at the head office in Jakarta," he explained.
The surge in traffic will, among other things, be driven by the intense use of various digital services with large capacities that are usually used to fill a long holiday period. It is estimated that customers will send a lot of video or photo content, as well as streaming access, both videos, music, and games. Social media is also expected to be targeted by customers to fill their vacation time to share the excitement of Nataru's moments.
Cities that are predicted to experience a surge in traffic are cities that are also destinations for public vacations, including Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Denpasar, to Surabaya. The increase in traffic is expected to occur in areas that have a fairly large Christian community, such as several cities in North Sulawesi, North Sumatra, and East Nusa Tenggara.
Based on a survey by the Ministry of Transportation, of the 44.17 million people estimated to travel Nataru, the most trips came from Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek). Then followed by East Java.
Meanwhile, the destination area is dominated by Java Island. The Ministry of Transportation also predicts that the peak of the first homecoming flow will be Christmas and New Year on 23-24 December 2022, with the peak of backflow on 25-26 December 2022. Furthermore, the peak of the second homecoming flow is predicted to occur on 30-31 December 2022, with the peak of backflow on January 1-2, 2023.
Meanwhile, in order to serve customers who need support during the long holiday period, the XL Axiata customer service team is also ready. To ensure that customers can be served optimally, XL Axiata provides around 550 customer contact service officers, both through call center services and digital care services. Services to these customers are on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
XL Axiata has also prepared various facilities and infrastructure, either through telephones or digital services that can be done from home, including online XL Center services, call center services and Digital Care Maya services through myXL and AXISnet applications as well as digital channels such as; E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Live Chat, to serve as well as provide solutions to various questions, both regarding service complaints to product information to loyal customers.
Not only that, customers can also get services, including various products in 92 XL Centers spread across various cities throughout Indonesia. In several cities, XL Centers also remain open on Christmas and New Year's Day, especially in shopping centers or malls.
In previous years, every long holiday, both Eid and the end of the year, the number of customers who contact the call center and digital care has actually decreased compared to normal days. Of the total number of customers who contact, the percentage of topics that are often asked by customers include 26 percent related to internet services, 15 percent about network issues, the rest related to products/services, how to activate numbers and cards, to the location of the XL Center.
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