Femtocells & Femto BTS

I've just read some articles related with this "femto" issue. Also, maybe some of you have heard about this thing ...

Source/Courtesy FemtoForum.org

At least Sprint and Verizon have already offered early "femto" services (cited from dailywireless.org | lightreading.com). But for me, at a first glance, it wasn't quite clear: what benefits are given to the customers? Whether these femto-APs/BTSs could really with-reasonable-benefits replace existing infrastructures? ....

Mobile Network Coverage : Telkomsel

As of Q2 2008 PT. Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel/TSEL) operates 23,056 BTSs (including 3G) and serves 52.44 mn subscribers (4% postpaid, 96% prepaid). 4.55 mn of those are new customers this year. As of Q2 2008 TSEL customers spent totally 32.1 bn MoU (Minutes of Use), which is equivalent to 178+ mn MoU each day. It is claimed that the current TSEL network can handle up to 54.8 mn subscribers.

Highlight Telkom

Telkom is the prime and largest operator offering fixed telephony (PSTN), FWA (brand "Flexi") and DSL services (brand "Speedy"). However by looking at subscription growth, it seems that wired-services are not prioritized anymore. As of Q2/2008, Telkom serves 8.7+ mn PSTN, 8+ mn Flexi and 0.5+ mn Speedy subscribers. The number of flexi subscribers may overtake that of PSTN by the end of this year or at the begin of 2009 at the latest.

Mobile Network Coverage

How many BTSs are needed to completely cover a city on average? 50 ? 100 ? more/less ? If each operator has its own tower, then it would be 250 to 500 towers in a city (assuming there are 5 operators, 1 BTS each tower).

Around two years ago, when I came back from Germany after several years leaving, almost every 1 minute or maybe less of my trip from Jakarta to Bandung (also inside the cities) I saw a BTS tower!! Several times later people told me that indeed due to "cellular wars", our cities have turned into "Hutan BTS" (BTS forrests). Well this is the fact. This might:

Highlight Axis (Natrindo - NTS)

PT Natrindo Telepon Selular (NTS - formerly Lippo Telecom Group) delivers its services under the brand "Axis". It is currently owned by STC (Saudi Telecom) via its malaysian subsidiary Maxis.

NTS has started its operation by February 2008. As of August 2008, they claimed that they have built approx. 2,000+ BTS and serve 1+ mn subscribers in Java, Bali and Sumatera (approximatly covering 25% of the population). They expect that they present nationswide in 2009 by increasing the network coverage with approx. 8,000 to 10,000 BTSs (Q4T/2009).

Highlight Three HCPT (Hutchison)

PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications Indonesia (HCPT) delivers its services under the brand "Three". It is the same brand as marketed in other countries by Hutchison group.

HCPT has started its operation by March 2007. As of August 2008, they claimed that they build approx. 6,000 BTS till Q4/2008 and currently serve 3.2 mn subscribers in Java, Bali and Sumatera (20% of the total customers of Hutchison group). They expect that they overtake Bakrie Telecom as the country's fourth largest cellular/mobile operator in 2009.

Highlight Mobile-8

Mobile-8 (M8) was established in 2002. It acquired Komselindo and Metrosel in 2003. It is known as the first CDMA public cellular operator in the country.

M8 currently exists with two brands: "Fren" for cellular CDMA services and "Hepi" for FWA services. The latter was just recently launched (May 2008). As of Q1B/2008, its customer base reaches 3+ mn.

Highlight Smart Telecom (Formerly Sinar Mas)

Smart Telecom has entered the market by late 2007. "Smart" was chosen as a new company name after consolidation of PT. Wireless INdonesia (Sinar Mas subsidiary) and PT. Primasel. Currently it serves 500+ th. subscribers and covers major cities in Java, Bali and Lombok with approx. 1,500+ BTSs. The company intends to expand network coverage to Sumatera, Kalimantan and Sulawesi by the end of this year and expects to acquire around 2 mn new customers. It is roumored that recently, Smart has also acquired some shares of PT. Moratelindo (??).

Highlight XL (Excelcomindo)

In this new "Highlight" thread, I would archieve some actual facts (of my interest) related to indonesian telcos/ISPs.

Currently, XL (Excelcomindo Pratama) is the third largest telco in the country. This is currently justified if we look at the customer base and some financial performances of the company. The current champion is Telkom Group (inc. Telkomsel) while the "vize" champion is Indosat Group. The position might change in the (near) future, especially since XL "moves" quite progressive after TM acquisition and after the former Indosat CEO Hasnul Suhaimi leads this company.

Highlight BTEL (Bakrie Telecom)

With respect to customer base, Bakrie Telecom (BTEL) is currently the fourth largest operator. As of Q2/2008 BTEL services more than 5.4 mn customers in 47 cities spread in Java, Sumatera and Kalimantan. Early this year BTEL is also granted an IDD license by the government, so one might expect that the company will be more aggressive in the next years.

SMS : A 23 Years Old Cash Cow

Want to know how rich are the cellular operators todays ? Let us make some calculations! For simplicity, we only consider Short Messaging Service (SMS) offered by the largest domestic operators: Telkomsel (TSEL), Indosat (ISAT) and Excelcom (XL).

The SMS production rate of these operators is quite fantastic. As of 2007, together they produced more than 400 mn SMS each day on average. Peak SMS production rates, which may happen in some special occasions, could be in the range of 1.5 to 2.0+ of the average rate. Detail average production rate for each operator can be seen in the picture.

Onnet vs. Offnet

This post shall actually be published one day in March :-) I haven't remembered precisely anymore the thing I want to address except that as indicated by the title. Maybe I'll just go for a rough idea.

I was trying to model traffic (relations, matrices, etc.) between operators. To obtain realistic results I had to assume a quite high factor for onnet traffic. That onnet traffic shall be higher than offnet, it is intuitively justified, because the operators always try to increase their customer base with many attractive marketing efforts, pricing schemes or other policies. Rough speaking, I had to use onnet factors in the range of 0.60 to 0.75. This was, informally, justified by some technical persons in the operators.