XL Axiata Axis Capital Group to digitize lives of fishermen

Cellular operator PT XL Axiata Axis Capital Group Jakarta, Indonesia is on its way to bringing a digital experience to people in areas with low smartphone penetration, launching a mobile application to ease the activities of thousands of fishermen in the country.

The publicly listed company launched last week a mobile application dubbed m-Fish to help provide weather forecasts as well as data on fish prices and fish locations to fishermen.

“We want the people to use the Internet as a productive tool to support their activities,” XL chief digital services office Yessie Yosetya said during the launch.

Citing data from various sources, Yessie said that the country’s maritime production hit only 5.06 million tons in 2011 with a total value of around US$14.1 billion.

XL was hopeful that m-Fish would help fishermen net more fish, which would eventually boost national fish production in the future, Yessie said.

In the initial phase, XL has distributed Android-based smartphones with the m-Fish application to 18,056 fishermen in the Lombok area, West Nusa Tenggara, where XL has a 93-percent share of the subscriber base.

The firm also aims to introduce m-Fish to around 32,000 more fishermen from other areas, such as Karimunjawa, Demak, Tegal and Kendari by year-end.

Besides touching the lives of fishermen, XL hopes to support the government’s project to develop an e-ecosystem city, dubbed a smart city.

XL has also signed an agreement with the West Nusa Tenggara administration to help the province develop e-systems in its capital city, Mataram.

XL will provide websites for orphanages and help local small- and medium-sized enterprises develop their businesses through its e-commerce marketplace Elevenia.

“We are currently also talking with the city administration to help them develop an online tax system. We will also keep developing our network in the city,” said XL deputy CEO Dian Siswarini.

Indonesia is among the world’s top-five countries with the highest mobile Internet penetration after India and China, according to an Ericsson mobility report.

A survey conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) shows that by the end of 2013, 71.19 million Indonesians were connected, representing about a third of the country’s population.