Indosat looks to grow home broadband subscribers to 2mn by 2028

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (Indosat) is looking to increase its active subscribers to 2mn in the next four years by capitalising on the home broadband $4bn market potential by 2028, a top official has said.Indosat president director and CEO Vikram Sinha spoke about the company’s plans for its home broadband business following the recent MNC Play acquisition, saying "the company’s home broadband business will become an increasingly important contributor to Indosat’s growth in the future.”In November 2023, Indosat announced the collaboration between Asianet (a Lightstorm Group entity) and PT MNC Kabel Mediacom (MNC Play), in bringing world-class digital experience to customers."We recently moved to expand this business by acquiring MNC Play’s customer assets. That acquisition transformed the scale of our fibre-to-the-home business, adding around 300,000 customers and strengthening our offering to include Internet Protocol Television Services (IPTV),” he said.According to Sinha, the impact of the deal is expected to be "highly positive,” bolstering Indosat’s EBITDA from 2024 and solidifying the company’s position in the rapidly growing home broadband market. Currently, Indosat’s home broadband business is catering to over 339,000 customers across Indonesia, he noted.Sinha said, "During ‘IOH Capital Market Day 2024’, we shared that the home broadband opportunity will have a $4bn market potential by 2028. We aim to capture an 8% to 10% market share by growing our active subscribers to 2mn in 2028.”Two and a half years after the merger of Indosat and Hutchinson 3 Indonesia, Sinha said Indosat now has more than 100mn customers, making it "one of the only top 10 telcos worldwide with that number of subscribers.”He said Indosat delivered "remarkable achievements” after the merger and network integration in 2023. Over the last 30 months, Indosat already reached more than $400mn in annualised synergies."We have completed most of the big integration initiatives, mainly around network integration, although there is still some work to do. Our performance is a testament to the success of the merger – our market cap has more than doubled, our share price has increased over 50% in the last 12 months, our Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has increased, and we are delivering a sustainable net profit to our shareholders. We have the highest total shareholder returns at 56%, the highest EBITDA growth in APAC. These numbers should instil confidence in our collective future,” he said.Sinha added: "From day one, it was clear that this merger would benefit Indosat, our customers, our employees, and Indonesia. This strategic decision was driven by our purpose of empowering every Indonesian, not solely shareholder interests. The subsequent growth of the industry following our merger serves as a testament to its positive effects on the country and its people.”