XL Turns Off All 3G Signals End of March 2022 All

KOMPAS.com – XL Axiata already revealed his plan to turn off the signal 3G last January. This effort is in line with the appeal of the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo).

This process has been carried out by the company. Even today, 5,000 XL Axiata 3G BTS have been turned off. This number will increase every day because of the process shutdown 3G services are also carried out every day by the operator, until the end of March 2022.

“The number of BTS (3G) that we have turned off is probably around 5,000 and is increasing by around 1,000 BTS every day. We will do it gradually and finish at the end of March,” said Director & Chief Technology Officer of XL Axiata, I Gede Darmayusa in Outlook Network XL Axiata 2022 which was held virtually, Thursday (24/2/2022).

According to Gede, in 2021, XL Axiata has actually turned off 3G services in 22 cities. In total, 22,000 3G BTS were turned off and converted into 4G BTS in that year.

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The increasing number of 3G BTS that are turned off in March means that XL Axiata’s 3G BTS is completely turned off. “Next month (March) our target is to turn off all 3G on the XL Axiata network,” said Gede.

XL Axiata’s efforts to turn off 3G services were carried out to move 3G traffic to 4G. According to Gede, 3G services are mostly used for telephones, instead of internet data.

Moreover, people have also used telephones with data such as WhatsApp calls compared to telephone services with pulses.

By turning off 3G services, the spectrum previously used by 3G can be utilized to expand 4G services.

“Currently 3G is widely used for voicethere is (user) data but very small, no significant. So if shutdown 3G, the goal is because the spectrum currently used by 3G will be very efficient to be used for LTE data,” said Gede.

Encourage mobile phone vendors to activate VoLTE

According to Gede, so far voice or telephone services are accommodated by 2G and 3G networks, while 4G is only for internet data. After turning off 3G services, XL Axiata users’ phone calls will be supported by the Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) feature, on the 4G network.

To maximize call quality, both when using credit and data, XL Axiata encourages the activation of the VoLTE feature, which is a voice call service on the 4G network.

In practice, the phone that the user uses must also support the VoLTE feature. The SIM card used must also support 4G networks.

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However, the majority of older phones do not support this feature, although it can be activated by the relevant phone manufacturer. For this reason, XL Axiata encourages mobile phone vendors to activate the VoLTE feature on various cellphones, including older series phones.

“All handset especially the old ones, we ask the phone manufacturers to be able to enable VoLTE. Thus, customers will not feel the impact of XL Axiata’s 3G service being turned off,” said Gede.

This operator will also prepare adequate network capacity to support VoLTE voice calls. This is done so that customers get optimal call quality, so they don’t feel like they are missing out on service.

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