Mobile World Congress 2023: Let’s Talk about Indonesia

BARCELONA, KOMPAS.com – On one morning, 3-degree Celsius temperatures of winter weather roared across Barcelona in Spain, forcing thousands of people to rush into the Fira Gran Via conference center. Among them was Vikram Sinha, president director and CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH).

At the venue, where the Mobile World Congress (MWC) took place from Feb. 27 to March 2, Vikram had at least 27 meetings to attend. He had to start his busy itinerary as early as 8:00 a.m. and finished it by evening during the telecoms industry’s biggest annual gathering.

On the sidelines of the MWC, we sat down with Vikram for about 30 minutes on Wednesday, March 1, discussing IOH's roles and the journey of the merger between Indosat Ooredoo and Hutchison 3 Indonesia which began on Jan. 4, 2022.

“Most telco mergers fail,” said Vikram at the beginning of the conversation.

His statement was in line with Harvard Business Review research that 70 percent to 90 percent of mergers and acquisitions fail.

Also read: Indonesia’s Indosat, GSMA Develop Mobile-Led Mitigations for Tackling Climate Change

The next question is, what makes Indosat not included in the majority group? Even though many have said that the merger had been successful, Vikram said that what was being done at IOH had not been completed.

“When our global shareholders got together and asked me about the merger, I told them to step back and let’s talk about Indonesia,” said Vikram.

Culture and people

When Vikram said “let’s talk about Indonesia” he was referring to bringing people together on the same page and working in the same direction. In the merger, Vikram focused on culture and people first as this is the most important aspect.

KOMPAS.com/Wisnu Nugroho. President director and CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) Vikram Sinha.

“There is no Hongkong culture [Hutchison 3] or Doha [Indosat Ooredoo]. But, there is only one culture and that is Indonesia. There will not be two businesses after the merger. It’s only one [company] in Indonesia,” he said.

Indonesia has huge potential that leads to a strong foothold. The Indonesian economy experiences the fastest growth in the world and is one of the biggest digital economies in ASEAN.

Digital adoption is enabling Indonesia to realize its aspirations of achieving high-income status more quickly. IOH with 102 million subscribers is transforming rapidly to help drive the digital revolution across the nation.

“On Jan. 4, 2022, we completed a merger that combines two highly complementary businesses, Indosat Ooredoo dan Hutchison 3 Indonesia, to create a new world-class digital telecom for Indonesia,” he said.

Following the merger, it is hoped that IOH can better compete and create additional value for all stakeholders, including employees, customers, and shareholders.

Pessimism emerged following the merger, considering the previous data on failed mergers in the telco industry. There was an assumption that the company got downgraded after the merger.

“Amid pessimism and doubts, we have succeeded in exceeding all expectations for 2022. We answered all doubts and gave a positive outlook for Indonesia’s market and the opportunity to grow in the telco industry,” Vikram said.

Also read: Indonesia’s Indosat Inks Deal with Cisco to Improve IoT Connectivity for Business Solutions 

Vikram went on to say that IOH has an ongoing 9-quarter integration plan. The realization of the synergies is currently running very smoothly and has been completed far ahead of the plans. Using the MOCN (Multi Operator Core Network) technology, the company’s network integration is targeted to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.

For the last four consecutive quarters, IOH recorded solid performance both financial and operational. Total revenue increased by 48.9 percent YoY or 31.388,3 billion rupiahs to 46.752,3 billion rupiahs.

Meanwhile, EBITDA was recorded at 19.468,7 billion rupiahs or an increase of 40.2 percent with a 41.6 percent EBITDA margin. Net profit for the year attributable to owners of the parent company was 4.723,4 billion rupiahs, and normalized net profit increased by 76.2 percent YoY.

“The company’s cellular customers increased by 62.5 percent to 102.2 million in 2022,” Vikram said.

Avoiding complexity

For this positive achievement, Vikram did not put focus on the outside. Instead, he focused on the inside. The company embraced simplicity and transparency in its work.

“Our strategy is how our company can commit to be simple and transparent. What we achieve is not through competition but through customer orientation. We thrive on it. The complexity and confusion of our customers

“Our strategy is how to be simple and transparent. What we achieve is not because we compete, but focus on customers. We thrive on it. We stop the complexity and confusion of our customers,” he said.

Amid the merging process, IOH focused on customers, making sure that the customer is king. Therefore, never compromise poor customer service and experience.

“Customers don't care about the merging process of the companies. Serve customers well and this will empower Indonesia," said Vikram.

Empowering Indonesia becomes IOH’s purpose. That is why IOH continues the tradition
Empowering Indonesia then becomes IOH's purpose. That's why IOH continues the tradition of innovation practices carried out by Indosat in its early days in Indonesia.

Vikram believes that empowering Indonesia also means empowering Indosat. With technology, the empowerment activity is carried out through collaboration.

According to him, this is a decade of collaboration, which he often called a decade of gotong royong during several events at the MWC 2023. It is about how to work together to bring goodness to Indonesia.

Strategic partners

To realize its "purpose" for Indonesia and bring the world’s best practices to Indonesia, IOH strengthens its collaboration with strategic partners at the MWC.

First, increasing Indonesia’s environment and economic resilience with GSMA. IOH and GSMA will carry out mangrove conservation programs and increase the productivity of shrimp and crab farmers using the Internet of Things (IoT) technology in North Kalimantan province, on Indonesia's side of Borneo island.

Kompas.com/Wisnu Nugroho Indonesia's Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) and CISCO sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to transform IOH's network with Routed Optical Networking (RON) during the 2023 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain on Monday, February 27, 2023.

Second, scaling up SRv6's joint innovation with Huawei. IOH and Huawei will jointly carry out SRv6 research and verification, while also promoting large-scale SRv6 commercialization to accelerate the transformation to automated and intelligent network architectures.

Third, enhancing IoT connectivity with Cisco, which will transform IOH’s network with routed optical networking and pave the way for IoT connectivity in Indonesia.

Fourth, supporting Indonesia’s digital transformation agenda with a private wireless agreement with Nokia ensures IOH’s business customers keep pace with shifting demands, take advantage of the IoT, and have guaranteed connectivity for people and machines.

Fifth, exploring transport and access network innovations with ZTE. Both companies will further explore next-generation 5G transport network construction, and accelerate fiber and intelligent network transformation, to offer abundant digital service experience for over 102 million IOH users in Indonesia.

As for bringing the world’s best practices to Indonesia, Vikram always introduces Indonesia first to his business partners and the audience who attend his sessions.

"Indonesia is more than just Bali," said Vikram while explaining other regions in Indonesia that have massive size and potential in many areas, including technological development.

Vikram has done good work for Indonesia because he believes in karma. "Just do a good thing. Don't expect anything from the good thing you have done. Good deeds will make you happy in life,” he said.

(Writer: Wisnu Nugroho | Editor: Reska K. Nistanto)

Source: https://tekno.kompas.com/read/2023/03/06/12150017/mari-bicara-indonesia-di-mobile-world-congress-2023?utm_source=Whatsapp&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=Top_Mobile.