XL Axiata Data Traffic Increases 37 Percent During The 2023 Eid Holiday

JAKARTA - PT XL Axiata Tbk (EXCL) noted that during the Eid al-Fitr 1444 H holiday, between April 19 and April 27, 2023, there was an increase in data usage traffic by 37 percent.

Director & Chief Technology Officer of XL Axiata, I Gede Darmayusa said the surge in traffic could not be separated from the enthusiasm of the public to travel back and forth on vacations like the previous years before the pandemic.

"During this holiday period, there has been a significant increase in data traffic, as well as data on community movement from one area to another which is so dynamic. Access to video streaming services via social media is also quite high, which shows the enthusiasm of the community to share joy with each other," he said in Jakarta, Sunday, April 30.

Gede added that the pattern of using various types of data services by XL Axiata customers during the Eid holiday could illustrate the maximum of Indonesians in utilizing digital facilities for various daily needs.

During the Eid holiday period, continued Gede, service traffic was dominated by access files (Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram Files Access) reaching 36 percent, Instant Messaging 33 percent, Games 11 percent and Streaming which reached 10 percent, and other services reached 9 percent.

Video streaming services have also increased, such as Netflix reaching 36 percent, Disney Hotstar 22 percent, TikTok 12 percent and YouTube rising 5 percent.

As for Instant Messenger services, WhatsApp service usage traffic increased 43 percent. Meanwhile, on Social Network services, Instagram traffic increased 55 percent, Twitter 15 percent and Meta (Facebook) 4 percent," he explained.

For map services or road route pointings such as Apple Map, Google Map and Waze are quite widely accessed by people who travel, which is an increase of around 9-75 percent compared to normal days.

Areas For Increased Service Traffic

Gede said that if you look at the area of increasing service traffic during the Lebaran holiday compared to the traffic of the previous day, it occurred in Central Java with an increase of 27 percent, West Java 19 percent, and East Java 17 percent.

"Outside Java, service use traffic in North Sumatra has an average increase of 12 percent, South Sumatra 15 percent, Kalimantan 10 percent, Sulawesi 6 percent, Bali-NTB-NTT 10 percent," he said.

Meanwhile, judging from the city/district area, nationally, the three cities/districts with the highest increase in traffic were Central Java Kebumen Regency, an increase of 62 percent, West Java Pandeglang Regency 49 percent, and Pemalang Regency, Central Java 48 percent.

For service traffic in Jabodetabek, service traffic during the Eid holiday seems to decrease by 6 percent compared to normal days. The traffic data in Jabodetabek is also in accordance with customer transfer data during the Eid holiday period," he explained.

Gede explained that XL Axiata monitoring data also noted that the rate of transfer of customers from the Jabodetabek area to other provinces was around 35 percent.

Overall, to ensure network readiness in meeting customer needs during this year's Eid holiday period, XL Axiata has previously doubled network capacity compared to normal days.

The network escort procedure is still being carried out as much as possible. XL Axiata deployed 160 units of BTS mobile to strengthen network quality in locations in need," he explained.

To date, the 4G XL Axiata network has served more than 57 million customers with service coverage in more than 61,000 villages/kelurahan, 5,700 sub-districts, and 469 districts in 34 provinces of Indonesia, supported by more than 145,000 BTS including more than 90,000 4G BTS, as well as an optical fiber backbone network that spans more than 130,000 km, supporting a very wide data network in the Indonesian Archipelago.