JAKARTA, Indonesia—Heru Prasetyo, Indonesia’s Accenture country manager, suggested cellular operators should increase their average revenue per user (ARPU) from its current less than US$20 to at least US$25 for financing future network expansions.
“The great portion of prepaid subscribers should not be considered a limiting factor,” he said. “In fact, operators must deliver creative services to generate revenue from prepaid subscribers.”
Currently, the country’s percentage of prepaid GSM subscribers ranges from 65 percent to 95 percent of total mobile subscribers. About 35 percent of Telkomsel’s, the country’s biggest operator, total 3 million subscribers are postpaid customers, and 65 percent are prepaid.
Telkomsel experienced an increase in ARPU from US$9 in 1999 to US$10.5 in the first half of 2001 for prepaid users and from US$27.2 to US$28.5 for postpaid users during the same period with the launch of new services ranging from interoperator short message service (SMS) to mobile banking,
In 2002, data services are predicted to contribute significantly to increasing ARPUs with the launch of new text messaging and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services.
