People Can Return To Lebaran Homecoming, XL Axiata Data Traffic Increases 33 Percent, Streaming Increases 52 Percent

JAKARTA - PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) recorded an increase in data usage traffic during the Eid 1443 H holiday, between April 24 - May 7 2022. Data from the Customer Experience & Service Operation Center (CESOC) located at XL Axiata Tower , Jakarta, showed an increase in data service traffic nationally by 33 percent higher than the Lebaran period the previous year, and 11 percent compared to normal days before Ramadan.

The surge in traffic is inseparable from the permission of the public to travel back and forth and on vacation, after two years previously it was prohibited due to the pandemic.

Director & Chief Technology Officer of XL Axiata, I Gede Darmayusa said, after two Eids, most people could not travel back and forth to their hometowns, this year's Eid was filled with a euphoric atmosphere of people in various regions.

“We can see this, among others, from the significant increase in data traffic, as well as the data on the movement of people from one area to another which is so dynamic. Access to video streaming services through social media is also quite high, which shows the enthusiasm of the community to share joy with each other. We at XL Axiata are grateful to be able to provide maximum service to customers during this joyful holiday period," he said in a written statement, Sunday, May 8. Indonesian people in utilizing digital facilities for various daily needs. During the period of Ramadan and Eid, national data service traffic was dominated by streaming which reached 52 percent, followed by social networks at 42 percent.

On this streaming service, a number of applications experienced a significant increase in usage traffic, such as game-based services experiencing an average traffic increase of up to 66 percent, Netflix up 16 percent, YouTube up 40 percent, TikTok up 76 percent, Spotify up 21 percent, and Vidio relatively stable.

For Instant Messenger services, nationwide traffic using WhatsApp services increased 38 percent, Meanwhile, on Social Network services, Twitter traffic increased 29 percent and Meta (Facebook) 38 percent. Other services also experienced an increase in traffic, including online shopping through e-commerce which increased by 23 percent, while web browsing rose by 36 percent.

For the Zoom video conference service, although it seems that the community is also starting to use it to stay in touch, due to school holidays and employee leave, the traffic usage is relatively stagnant and tends to decrease. For map services or road route pointers such as Google Map and Waze, it is quite widely accessed by people who travel, which is an increase of about 48 percent compared to normal days.

Meanwhile, SMS and voice telecommunications services experienced an increase/decrease by +6 percent and -3 percent respectively compared to normal days. On the other hand, the substitute for voice services, namely VoLTE, experienced a significant increase of up to 13 percent compared to normal days. Data-based VoLTE services have the same functions as voice, with the advantage of voice clarity, and can be performed simultaneously with access to other data services.

In terms of cost, customers also don't need to pay separately, just use the data package they have. Judging from the region, the increase in data service traffic nationally during Ramadan and Eid compared to the previous normal day traffic, respectively, occurred in Central Java with an increase of 23 percent, East Java 24 percent, and West Java 20 percent.

Outside of Java, data traffic in the northern part of Sumatra increased by 21 percent, Southern Sumatra 17 percent, Kalimantan 17 percent, Sulawesi 14 percent, Bali-Lombok-Sumbawa 19 percent.

Meanwhile, from the city/district area, nationally, the five cities/districts with the highest traffic increase were Kab. Sampang increased by 41 percent, Kab. Bangkalan rose by 39 percent, Kab. Central Lombok rose by 35 percent, Kab. Brebes rose by 33 percent, and Kab. Purwakarta rose by 25 percent.

Interesting data regarding service traffic during Ramadan and Lebaran also occurred in the XL Home/XL SATU Fiber convergence service, where nationally there was a 4 percent decrease in traffic compared to normal days or an increase of 20 percent compared to the same period last year.

Although this year's Lebaran many families travel back and forth, as a home internet service that is intended for the family segment, access to wifi based on fixed internet services continues to increase. The increase in XL Home traffic is inseparable from the continued increase in the number of customers nationally in the last year period by about 19 percent. Currently, the total number of XL Home subscribers reaches more than 100 thousand with coverage of more than 658 thousand home-passed.

"The increase in usage traffic has started to be seen since entering Ramadan and ahead of Eid al-Fitr, access to internet services has decreased slightly because customers are doing homecoming mobility," added Gede.