Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has generated robust growth across all business fronts throughout 2023, underpinned by a rise in overall revenues, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, data traffic and the number of 4G Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). Significantly, the telecommunications company has posted organic net profits for three consecutive years.
Indosat's fourth-quarter performance in 2023 reveals a marked increase in its net profit by 96% year-on-year (YoY). During the same period, total revenues surged by 7.7% YoY, and EBITDA rose by 6.4% YoY.
The full-year financial highlights for 2023 reflect Indosat's strong growth. Total revenue was up by 10% YoY to a notable USD3,323 million. EBITDA recorded a substantial rise of 23% YoY to USD1,553 million with a favourable normalization in EBITDA margin increasing by 4.5 percentage points YoY to reach 46.8%. The company's normalized net profit amounted to USD231 million, maintaining positive values persistently for the past three years.
Vikram Sinha, President Director, and Chief Executive Officer of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, acknowledged this impressive growth: "The achievements of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison in 2023 are attributed to the contributions of all parties, including business partners, customers, shareholders, and all of our employees."
The rise in total revenue is attributed to increased quality of both consumer and enterprise customers and uplifting performance across all company business lines. Cellular revenue surged by 8.7% YoY, buoyed by Data and Interconnection revenue increases. Furthermore, Multimedia, Data Communication, and Internet (MIDI) revenue climbed by 13.0% YoY, supported by IT services and Fixed Internet revenue amplification. Fixed Telecommunications revenue dramatically surged by 28.4% YoY, due to increased International Calls and Fixed Networks revenue.
During 2023, Indosat deepened its relationship with its nearly one hundred million customers across both consumer brands, IM3 and Tri, ensuing a 5.3% increase in Mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to USD2.3.
The company's transformation strategy from being a telecommunications company to a technology company achieved important milestones in 2023. Notably, the number of 4G BTS increased by 30.7% YoY, indicating the company's commitment to enhancing service quality, especially in less dense areas. Through the use of Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) technology on over 46,000 sites across Indonesia, customers benefited from wider network coverage, better indoor service quality, and up to doubled internet experience speed.
Indosat's capital expenditure reached USD829 million, most of which was allocated for cellular business expansion and network reach advancement to rural and remote areas. As a part of its transformative journey towards becoming a technology company, Indosat continues to develop fixed broadband internet services, leading to a significant increase in Home Broadband (HBB) customers to 336.9 thousand by the end of 2023. The company's own applications, myIM3 and bima+, also showed promising digital business potential reflected in a surge by 8.6 million YoY to 37.7 million Monthly Active Users (MAU).
In conclusion, Sinha emphasised on Indosat's strategic role in pioneering the growth of AI-based data centre infrastructure in Indonesia and said, "With the adoption of the latest technology supported by collaboration with various parties based on the spirit of mutual cooperation, we will continue our infinite journey in realising Indosat's grand goal of connecting and empowering all Indonesian society by accelerating the nation's digital transformation."