While digital transformation has been on the cards for many countries, COVID-19 has been accelerating the efforts of many governments and government-linked companies. The pandemic is accelerating digital adaptation in all sectors of daily life.
This is the case, too, In Indonesia. The pandemic has not stopped Indosat Ooredoo, an Indonesian State-Owned Enterprise (SoE), from innovating to provide the best digital experience for its customers. In 2014, Indosat Ooredoo launched and commercialised 4G services at 900 Mhz with speeds up to 42 Mbps in major cities in Indonesia. Five years later, they put a new strategy in place and trialled 5G implementation.
Large-Scale Social Restrictions have necessitates a bulk of daily activities be carried out online. This makes digitalisation inevitable if people ate to continue their activities. This is also the case in the education sector, where the Indonesian government is implementing Distance Learning (PJJ) by utilising internet technology.
Indosat Ooredoo is working with the Ministry of Education and Culture to disburse government subsidies for students and teachers in the form of internet quota every month. Customers can register their current IM3 Ooredoo number to a school or campus to get this distance learning support.
Every month IM3 Ooredoo users who have registered their numbers to schools or colleges can utilise the free data quota from the government for online learning. Starting from September 2020, the amount of free data quota received by IM3 Ooredoo users will vary according to their education level.
Students get a total quota of 35GB; 5GB for access to everything and 30GB for learning quota. Teachers have a total quota of 42GB; 5GB for access to all and a 37GB learning quota. A total quota of 50GB has been made available for college students and lecturer consisting of 5GB access to everything and 45GB learning quota.
The learning quota can be used to access online learning applications such as Ruangguru, Zenius, Quipper, Rumah Belajar, Google Classroom and others as well as on more than 300 university portals in Indonesia that can be used for 24 hours.
Indosat Ooredoo is further committed to supporting the government initiative on Distance Learning especially for Madrasah students throughout Indonesia. This cooperation agreement covers assistance provided by Indosat Ooredoo in the form of free starter pack which includes 30GB internet package. With this internet quota, Madrasah students throughout Indonesia can use the internet anytime and anywhere to access educational sites and portals to support their learning process.
More recently, Indosat Ooredoo announced customers can enjoy Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) services in across 30 cities in Indonesia. It plans to expand and grow in other regions as well. Customers who are are in a city with VoLTE Indosat Ooredoo coverage can enjoy VoLTE service as long as their cellphone supports VoLTE and has a 4G SIM card without registering for additional packages or applications.
The ease with which customers can avail these service is a step further in alleviating the challenges that the pandemic has brought, especially when people are asked to stay at home and keep their distance. Indosat Orordoo is confident that these services will help the people in Indonesia adapt to the new normal more quickly and maintain their health together.
Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) is a service that allows voice calls to be made over 4G-LTE based networks. VoLTE technology enables calls with clearer voice with “HD voice” quality. In addition, with this VoLTE service, telephones can be connected faster than traditional telephone services. Customers can switch from voice calls to video calls or vice versa easily without having to hang up first.
VoLTE technology allows users to simultaneously do other activities such as surfing, streaming or playing online games without dropping out if there is an incoming call.
