JAKARTA. The country’s largest mobile network operator, Telkomsel, will team up with drivers of the rapidly expanding motorcycle taxi app Go-Jek to promote sales amid growing competition in the country’s cell phone market.
Under a partnership agreement announced on Monday, Telkomsel would launch a new product called Go-Pulsa to enable Go-Jek drivers to sell phone credit vouchers valued between Rp 50,000 (US$3.7) and Rp 100,000.
Speaking to reporters following the announcement of the partnership, Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim said that the partnership would also create a new source of income for Go-Jek drivers.
“Our drivers’ most important asset is not their motorbikes, but their [assigned] phones will also become the source of their other income. We want our drivers to also become an economic fulcrum of their community too,” he said.
Mobile phone distributor PT TiPhone Mobile Indonesia is also part of the partnership, as they will supply the vouchers.
Telkomsel sales director Mas’ud Khamid said, with more than 300,000 passengers a day, Go-Jek could become an effective marketing tool to promote sales. If the passengers bought phone credits of at least Rp 50,000 each, the mobile operators could generate sales of up to Rp 150 billion daily from Go-Jek services.
“In a month, Telkomsel generates up to Rp 240 billion from phone credit voucher sales. The new service would offer more benefits on our part and could be a major contributor to our voucher sales. Especially because the average person would top up their credits more than twice a day,” he told reporters on Monday.
Mas’ud added that the service would also help Telkomsel achieve its ambitious growth and revenue targets for 2016.
The company is targeting to book this year up to Rp 87 trillion in total revenues, But, with its new sales campaign, the company is upbeat that total revenues will reach Rp 90 trillion, exceeding the target.
In 2015, Telkomsel’s revenues rose 14.5 percent to Rp 76 trillion year-on-year, exceeding its target of Rp 73 trillion.
Other plans Telkomsel has this year is to expand its 4G/LTE network to 10 more cities, making their network available in 40 cities by the end of 2016. It also plans to improve its e-payment mechanism, T-Cash.
Meanwhile, Nadiem said further that his company did not have any plans to expand outside of Indonesia, as he felt that Indonesia’s economic potential was still great enough to traverse, thus eliminating the need to expand into other markets.
He claims that Go-Jek is currently the largest transactional app in the country and that the company’s performance often tends to exceed their own targets.
Go-Jek currently offers up to 10 services under its belt, including Go-Ride, Go-Send, Go-Food, Go-Mart, Go-Busway, Go-Tix, Go-Box, Go-Clean, Go-Glam and Go-Massage. The services range from food delivery, mobile ticket purchases, couriers and hospitality. (Dylan Amirio)
