Indonesia's XLSmart Dedicates Post-Merger Spectrum to 5G Deployment

en.Wedoany.com Reported - XLSmart Director and Chief Technology Officer Shurish Subbramaniam stated that approximately one and a half years after the merger, infrastructure integration has progressed positively, and the company is dedicating the radio spectrum freed up by the integration exclusively to 5G network deployment. This initiative aims to address the issues of Indonesia's network quality lagging behind some developing countries and poor public digital experience.

Shurish believes that the key to efficient digitalization is to directly deploy core assets like spectrum for public use. During the spectrum asset transition and restructuring period, management ensured that 4G LTE technology usage maintained capacity levels acceptable to existing users. In a conversation with Selular on July 8, 2026, he mentioned that after capacity demands are met, sufficient spectrum will be exclusively dedicated to deploying 5G connectivity services. Since 5G technology requires continuous and stable connections, dedicating ample spectrum to 5G deployment is crucial for ensuring quality of experience.

Modern digital applications have high technical specification requirements, relying on extensive and reliable broadband spectrum to be realized. Before the merger, Indonesia often ranked low in digitalization indices and user experience, with individual operators possessing limited broadband space, causing the country's digital competitiveness ranking to fall behind nations like Sri Lanka and Colombia. Shurish pointed out that through the expansion of spectrum assets post-merger, networks can be comprehensively optimized, reducing signal blind spots. A healthier frequency space helps improve data transmission speeds, driving Indonesia's digital competitiveness up in international rankings. In the future, XL Axiata management plans to continue refining the network expansion roadmap based on the merged spectrum, covering all key regions. Enhanced telecommunications infrastructure performance is expected to safeguard the long-term needs of the national digital ecosystem and support the growth of industrial sectors based on smart technologies.