PT Telekomunikasi Selular, trading as Telkomsel, is an Indonesian telecommunications company founded in 1995. Its ownership is divided between Telkom Indonesia (69.9%) and Singtel (30.1%), which serves as Telkom's consumer services arm starting 1 July 2023 by its management takeover of IndiHome.[1] It is headquartered alongside Telkom in the Telkom Landmark Complex.

PT Telekomunikasi Selular
Telkomsel
Company typeJoint venture
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded26 May 1995; 29 years ago (1995-05-26)
FounderTelkom Indonesia
HeadquartersTelkom Landmark Complex, Jakarta, Indonesia
Key people
  • Wishnutama (President Commissioner)
  • Hendri Mulya Syam (President Director)
Brands
  • Telkomsel Halo
  • Telkomsel PraBayar
  • Telkomsel Orbit
  • Telkomsel Klop!
  • by.U
  • IndiHome
  • Telkomsel One
Services
Owners
Websitewww.telkomsel.com

Telkomsel is the largest cellular telecommunication carrier in the country with 169.5 million customer base as of 2020.[2] The company operates their GSM network on the 900–1800 MHz frequency range, as well as 3G, 4G, and 5G services on other frequencies. Telkomsel operates a variety of mobile services, chief among them are Telkomsel PraBayar (a consolidation of simPATI, kartuAs, and LOOP, all of them Telkomsel's prepaid services) and Telkomsel Halo (formerly kartuHalo). These brands differ on their payment model (prepaid vs. postpaid) as well as pricing. As of the first quarter of 2020, Telkomsel had a 66.4% share of the Indonesian mobile phone market.[3]

History

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Former logo of Telkomsel used until 18 June 2021. The "by Telkom Indonesia" byline was added on 16 August 2013.

Telkomsel was incorporated on 26 May 1995 in Jakarta, Indonesia by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (Telkom) and PT Indosat Tbk (Indosat). In 1996, KPN Netherlands (KPN) and PT Setdco Megacell Asia (Setdco) acquired stakes in Telkomsel of 17.28% and 5%, respectively. In 2001, Telkom acquired Indosat shares to increase its ownership to 77.72%, while KPN and Setdco's shares were acquired by Singtel Mobile. The following year, Singtel Mobile increased its ownership by 12.7%, bringing its total ownership in Telkomsel to 35%, while it is majority owned by Telkom Indonesia with 65% of the shares.[4]

In November 1997, Telkomsel became the first wireless carrier in Asia to introduce rechargeable GSM pre-paid services (branded as simPATI until the 2021 rebrand).[citation needed] In September 2006, Telkomsel became the first carrier in the country to launch a 3G service.

On 20 March 2009, Telkomsel and Apple South Asia launched the iPhone 3G in Indonesia with customised price plans for all of Telkomsel's customers.[5] Three years later, Telkomsel had acquired more than 100 million active customers.[6]

In 2014, 11 million former Telkom Flexi (the parent company's fixed wireless access service) subscribers were migrated to either kartuAs or kartuHALO service (depending on their plan) when Telkom, along with various other cellular providers across the country, ended their CDMA services.[7]

In April 2017, the company's website was hacked, and a message protesting about high charges and unnecessary extra services was posted containing numerous offensive words.[8] There was widespread support for the hacker on social media.[9]

 
Another version of Telkomsel logo in social media's profile used since 18 June 2021.

In June 2021, Telkomsel became the first carrier in the country to launch a 5G service, with limited rollout in certain regions in Jakarta, Bandung and South Tangerang, along with Batam.[10] On 18 June 2021, Telkomsel launched its new logo, replacing the old logo that has been used 26 years since its foundation.[11]

On 6 April 2023, Telkomsel announced their plan to merge with Telkom's broadband arm IndiHome as one 58.3 trillion rupiah entity, meaning that Telkomsel would begin to widen the coverage for the fixed broadband markets awhile to get prepared for providing digital economy and 5G technology transition.[12]

Network coverage

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As of 2018, Telkomsel had 160,705 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) with 68.7% being 3G/4G capable.[13] The network uses GSM Dual Band (900 & 1800), GPRS, EDGE, 3G, 4G, and 5G technologies.

Frequencies used on Telkomsel Network in Indonesia
Band Frequency Frequency Width Protocol Notes
8 900 MHz

(880~890, 925~935)

2*10 MHz EDGE / LTE / LTE-A
3 1800 MHz

(1765~1785, 1860~1880)

2*20 MHz EDGE / LTE / LTE-A
1 2100 MHz

(1960~1980, 2150~2170)

2*20 MHz LTE / LTE-A
40 2300 MHz (2300~2340) 40 MHz LTE / LTE-A

References

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  1. ^ "Percepat Pemerataan Konektivitas Digital Indonesia, Telkom Resmi Integrasikan IndiHome ke Telkomsel" (Press release) (in Indonesian). 27 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Telkomsel 2018 Annual Report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Revenue market share of mobile subscribers in Indonesia as of Q1 2020, by provider". statista.com. 2021. Archived from the original on 25 April 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Telkomsel on BusinessWeek". Investing.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  5. ^ "Telkomsel segera Meluncurkan iPhone 3G Resmi masuk Indonesia | Berita Terbaru & Berita Terkini Gadget, Mobile Phone, Digital Camera, Tablet PC, Laptop, Hardware, Motherboard, Graphic Card Technology News" (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 17 December 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  6. ^ "Telekomunikasi Indonesia – Telkom – Indonesia Investments". Indonesia-investments.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  7. ^ Amailia Putri Hasniawati (4 October 2014). "Telkom Flexi Resmi Ditutup". Kompas.com (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Situs Telkomsel Diretas Berisi Keluhan Internet Mahal". Kompas.com (in Indonesian). 28 April 2017. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  9. ^ Dion Bisara; Herman (18 April 2017). "Telkomsel Hacked, Customers Vent Frustration Over Internet Price". The Jakarta Globe. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  10. ^ Clinten, Bill (27 May 2021). "Telkomsel Resmi Gelar Jaringan 5G Pertama di Indonesia, Ini Daerah yang Kebagian". Kompas.com (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Logo Baru Telkomsel Meluncur, Ini Maknanya". Kompas.com (in Indonesian). 18 June 2021. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Telkom Indonesia to merge broadband arm with Telkomsel to create US$3.9 billion entity". CNA. 6 April 2023. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  13. ^ Hendriana, Indra. "Pelanggan Telkomsel Membludak, Jumlah BTS Digenjot". inilahcom (in Indonesian). Jakarta: PT. Indonesia News Center. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
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