PLN Launches Home Broadband Services to Provide Ultimate Network Experience for Millions of Households in Indonesia

Comprising some 17,500 islands, Indonesia is the biggest country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and is home to the 4th largest population in the world. The country's economy has seen steady economic growth, oscillating around 5% per year. However, Indonesia's relatively weak ICT infrastructure is struggling to support the country's robust economic growth. "Fixed broadband penetration in Indonesia is only about 18 to 19%, compared to over 55% in neighboring Malaysia and 70 to 80% in Thailand," explains Darmawan Prasodjo, Chief Executive Officer of PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (abbreviated as PLN). As a result, the country often struggles with poor network quality and user experience.

PLN is the state-owned provider of electric power throughout Indonesia. It manages everything from power generation, transmission, and transformation to energy distribution and consumption, a challenging task for a population of over 273 million. PLN is looking for digital transformation to improve its services. The company advocates green development, innovation, experience, and lean management. Currently, it's pursuing 4 key development strategies: increasing power generation capacity, prioritizing renewable energy, improving power quality, and developing innovative services.

Challenges in entering the broadband market as a power company

PLN has established a Transformation Office charged with its digital transformation. It has also set up an ICT subsidiary, ICON+, which provides network services to end users. ICON+ is tasked with upgrading communications networks and expanding service coverage to improve broadband penetration throughout Indonesia. It is using existing electric power infrastructure to deploy network services, capitalizing on PLN's past investments.

Through this innovative approach, PLN hopes to provide more people in Indonesia with high-quality network services while increasing its revenues. However, the electric power giant lacks experience in operating new ICT services. It also needs to optimize its marketing and sales strategies in this new field.

• Transforming existing services: Currently, most of PLN's revenue comes from electric power services. It is looking to quickly increase revenues by adding power broadband services to its portfolio.

• Improving user experience: PLN needs to update its broadband devices and improve service delivery. It can use advanced optical transport technologies to improve user experience through high-bandwidth services, support new services such as 4K video, gaming, and VR, and grow the market presence of ICONNET, its bandwidth brand.

• Planning network construction: PLN has little experience in broadband network planning, construction, and operations. So, it needs a master plan for fast deployment.

Collaborating with Huawei to increase broadband penetration

PLN and Huawei have worked together on several energy projects in the past. Now, they are looking to collaborate on power bandwidth operations. PLN already has the right infrastructure with a wide coverage and high reusability. Huawei is adding value through its expertise and technical solutions for networks.

• Consulting and planning: Huawei's team of telecom experts and designers support PLN through network consulting, planning, and experience sharing. Together, they have designed an FOA network solution based on high-value areas, bringing an innovative approach to PLN's new services.

• Product solution: PLN has chosen Huawei's SingleFAN Pro, a one-stop solution that includes both devices and cabinets. Now, PLN can build and quickly deploy high-quality fiber infrastructure at a low cost.

With over 30 years of experience in the power and networking industries, Huawei is the ideal partner for PLN. Together, they can quickly launch services, planning and deploying 20 million lines in just 4 years. The solution and services help achieve fast asset monetization and reduce investment by 40% compared with carriers' home broadband development.

"People's lifestyles have changed after the pandemic. They expect more connectivity," said Mr. Prasodjo. "That's why we need to build the infrastructure of connectivity and PLN is doing its job to provide these services to Indonesian people".