Asia operator group XL Axiata highlighted gains in converged services in Q3 2023, with home broadband connections nearly doubling year-on-year to 206,000, helping to drive profit and revenue growth despite intense competition. 

President director Dian Siswarini (pictured) credited the increase in broadband adoption to the expansion of fibre coverage to 75 cities, noting 69 per cent of home service subscribers have mobile plans. Last year XL and its parent Axiata Group acquired broadband and cable-TV provider Link Net.

Net profit grew 8.4 per cent year-on-year to IDR361 billion ($23.2 million), with total revenue increasing 7.7 per cent to IDR8.1 trillion.

Its prepaid user base was stable at 55.9 million at end-September, with post-paid subscribers rising 6.7 per cent to 1.6 million. Blended ARPU edged up 2.5 per cent to IDR41,000.

Capex in the first nine months of 2023 dropped 12 per cent to IDR5.5 billion. XL increased the number of base stations 7 per cent to more than 158,000, with LTE sites accounting for 65 per cent of the total.