Indonesia’s PT Telkom on Wednesday added a new dimension to the age-old debate about the disruption over-the-top (OTT) players have brought to the telecoms industry and the question of who should pay for network access. According to an executive responsible for innovation at the telco, working with OTTs can create stickiness for network owners.
PT Telkom is happy to facilitate OTT providers’ route to market. "They can become our partner," said Henri Setiawan, VP of innovation management at PT Telkom International, speaking at CommunicAsia in Singapore.
"Our business is driven by traffic," some of which comes from the OTTs, Setiawan said.
But more than that, OTTs help Telkom "to make sure our customers are loyal to us."
Setiawan’s comments led to fellow panellists using the dreaded "dumb pipe" expression, but he insisted that that is not an accusation that can be levelled at PT Telkom.
"[We’re] not a dumb pipe," he said, explaining that PT Telkom has developed a media content hub on its network that helps it to give its customers the content they want.
"We are aggregating local content within our infrastructure," he said.
And Se tiawan was not referring only to content produced for the Indonesian market.
"We just acquired one company in Guam," Setiawan reminded the audience.
The firm announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire GTA Teleguam, which provides quad-play services in the Pacific island.
"We want to expand more, not only in the domestic market," Setiawan said.
