XL Axiata swings back to profit in Q1

Indonesia’s XL Axiata swung back to a net profit for the first quarter during what CEO Dian Siswarini said was a “promising start to 2016.”

The operator reported a net profit of 20 billion rupiah ($1.5 million) during the period, which compares to a loss of 758 billion rupiah in the same quarter last year.

Profit for 2016 was positively impacted by the strengthening of the rupiah against the US dollar this year, compared to a weakening in the first quarter of 2015.

Revenue meanwhile grew 2% year-on-year during Q1 of 2016, with core usage revenue up 5%, driven by a 23% year-on-year growth in the data segment. Data traffic grew 94% year-on-year and total data users grew to 22.8 million, or 54% of XL’s total base.

XL commented that LTE has become a key part of the operator’s mobile internet leadership strategy. By the end of the quarter, XL expanded its LTE footprint to cover 3,286 sites in 36 Indonesian cities and areas. The company’s total BTS footprint as of the end of March was 59,040.

“We have made a promising start to 2016 with further improvements in our operating and financial performance, and we hope to build momentum as we execute on our transformation agenda,” Siswarini said in a statement.