XL Highway Traffic Info

Launched (not so) recently: XL Traffic Info

What is this?
A live streaming video from traffic cameras located in major bottlenecks in Jakarta. It is a packet-based video, so you need GPRS/3G connection and a handphone which is able to display such thing (Nokia or SonyEricsson is a safe bet).

To access, one needs to point his/her mobile browser to http://www.xl.co.id/XLtrafficinfo

How much?
Rp 2.000 per access per camera (aargh…)
Plus, of course, the data charge.

Data charges?
My little experiment showed that 1 minute of stream “costs” you about 250 kB download. I don’t know the current data charges, since it’s changing every day…. I think XL charges Rp 1/kB, so that’s Rp 250 per minute (not much).

Screenshot & Quality?
I can not grab the RealPlayer screen probably need to update my Screenshot program. Nevertheless, here’s the screen capture for the WAP site where we select which camera to view.

The charging confirmation screen.

Plus the SMS confirming that Rp 2000 is already charged to my account.

Alternative?
There was a long time ago application from 1717 content provider (read my post). Which does practically the same. And cost about the same. I don’t know if it’s still running….

Coverage of Camera?
Jakarta Timur and Utara. Seven (7) cameras at this moment. Camera captures both direction.

The camera is mounted on the toll road. So the view is from 5 meter elevation, and directed towards highway traffic. (Thus the title “XL Highway Traffic Info”) At least, that’s what I see when I chose “Artha Gading” view. (If anyone can confirm for other camera, please, I don’t want to spend another valuable Rp 2000).

It might be useful for some people. Will be handy in time of needs. I just hope that they maintain the service and do not kill it too soon due to lack of take up. (If it can run under minimum or zero OPEX, then it’s fine lah to keep it).

XL to Push Data Usage

If you want to push data usage, what would you do? Eliminate the barriers of entry: modem price, price of BlackBerry handset, notebook ownership, and price for the subscription.

XL is promoting some new bundles – this week is Jakarta's Computer Expo time:

• Modem HSPA (yes, they market it as HSPA, not HSDPA) bundling:
• Rp 1.5mil (US $170) with an option for 0% 12-month installment
• including 3-month free data subscription (250 MB quota), worth Rp 300k
• 12-month contract
• BlackBerry 0% 12-month installment (priced quite competitively), with 3-month free subscription
• Notebook bundling, Rp 5mil and you get:
• Quantel 10.2" notebook: link
• Free modem
• Free 3-month data subscription (1 GB quota), worth ~Rp 750k
• 12-month contract
• XL introduced a small data subscription package (expensive if you calculate the per MB charges), Rp 10k for 10 MB and Rp 25k for 25 MB.

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XL Belum Puas?

To reiterate the recent campaign. They put this one full page in Kompas Minggu.

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XL: “Rp 600 all you can eat”

Today XL formally launched the "Rp 0,00000…1" campaign (link). There's a big change however – probably due to strong criticism; the long zero's is no longer mentioned. Instead the ad now says "lowest rate to all operators, guaranteed" and "Rp 600 sampai puasssss" (translation: all you can eat).

Probably this is to attack Fren "Rp 700" Promo.

Rephrase: XL 0,00000…1

Wait a moment… is it Rp 600 to all operators or only on-net? Of course you have to read the fine prints to understand what they really doing AND to find that they misled people…. again…

Six hundred rupiah is for on-net (between XL subscribers), and only between 23:00 – 10:59 in Jabotabek. For other case, good luck… still pretty low, but they are different rates:

• basically they give free call after a certain seconds – depends on where you are and what time the call is made
• there's a positive thing: for Sumatera, NTT, Ambon, Papua, it is even lower — free after 30 seconds (so practically Rp 300 all you can eat).
• NTT, Ambon and Papua even enjoy this free-after-30-sec longer: 19 hours, from 23:00 – 18:00 WIT (or 21:00 – 16:00 WIB), great!

The interesting part is the off-net tariff… the "free" part is only for the 3rd to 10th minute. So here it goes:

• 0 – 2 minute: Rp 25/sec
• 3 – 10 minute: free
• >10: Rp 10/sec

So costs for 1-, 2-, 3-, 10-, 11-, 12-minute call are respectively  (in IDR) 1500, 3000, 3000, 3000, 3600, 4200, …
Confusing enough? "Tanpa Syarat dan Ketentuan"

Secondly, I am wondering, whether this applies to my post-paid subscription? Probably not.

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XL Price Cap?

On Saturday, I spotted another shocking one-third page ad… XL (translated) said that "timed calls are now outdated!"

XL Flat Rate Ad – Teaser

On the next page came this:

XL Flat Rate Ad – Inside

Basically they kind of capped the off-net call rate to Rp 3000,- per call. Flat rate, all you can eat. Of course there are terms and conditions…. (More when I found the details on their website).

Update

Yes, it is capping the call rate, kind of. After a certain minute, depending on the time of day, the call cost you Rp 0.00000…1 per sec (or practically FREE).

For on net calls, here's the T&C:

• Rp 10/sec for the first NNN seconds, then…
• 23:00 – 10:59, free after 60 sec.
• 11:00 – 18:59, free after 120 sec.
• 19:00 – 22:59, free after 180 sec.

For off-net calls, I still don't get it, the press release seems confusing (is it free after 2, 3, 4, or 10 minutes?):

Untuk telepon antara operator, pengguan XL bebas juga tetap dapat menikmati manfaat telepon sampai puas (Rp 0,00000…1 atau setara gratis) setelah menit ke 2 – 10. Adapun tarif di menit pertama adalah Rp 25/detik dan setelah 10 menit Rp 10/detik. Tarif di atas sudah termasuk PPN dan berlaku di Jabodetabek, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, DI Yogyakarta, Jawa Timur, Bali, Lombok.

http://www.xl.co.id/Korporat/Ruang_Media/Siaran_Pers/XL_bebas_Tetap_Termurah

Guess I have to wait until they got a decent explanation.

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1-cent Call

One cent can not buy anything (in physical world) in Indonesia. But you can make a one second call with that…
Just launched today, another retaliation move in the recent telco price war. This time it's Indosat.

According to the terms and conditions:

• the first 90 seconds cost Rp 15/sec (or Rp 25/sec for off-net)
• and only after that it will cost you 1cent per second – so Rp 6 per minute, which is basically free

Who has the cheapest tariff for off-net to other mobile subscriber now? Difficult to answer, depending on how long you're going to talk.

	1 min.	2 min.	3 min.			4 min.	5 min.
Esia*	800	1600	2400			3200	4000
Fren	700	1400	2100			2800	3500
XL Bebas	1500	3000	3006			3012	4512
IM3	1500	2250.30	2250.90			2251.50*	2252.10*

Notes:

• All prices in IDR
• Esia rate is for local mobile calls
• I still have to cross check Indosat's T&C after the third minutes – website's down so can't get any details
• I did not take into account the VAT and the market price of the prepaid vouchers – they may add or subtract 5-10% of the above prices…

See… interesting…

0.01

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When “On Net” is no longer enough

Until recently, the name of the battle for cheapest tariff in Indonesia is "on net" battle. Basically operators are racing to reach the new limbo of who offer the lowest tariff for calls between subscribers of the same operator (on-net). It varies from Rp 1 per second, Rp 1000 per hour, Rp 50 per minute, Rp 1 per minute, Rp 50cents per second, Rp 0, and so on. We jokingly wonder when it will reach minus sign…

This is a good sign (for the subscribers) that the industry is getting more competitive. Not for the operators (and vendors).

When that is no longer enough…. the battle now shifts to who gives the cheapest off net… If you can get like Rp 1 per minute for on-net, why the cheapest for off-net was way above that?

Fren started this on the 14th of January 2008…. "Fren Fact": Rp 700 per minute (US 7~8cents) to "any GSM operators, anywhere, anytime." I haven't checked whether the claim is 100% correct, but well, I assume they did have their research done before launching the claim.

Fren Rp 700 Ad

 

Then XL strikes back with "0.10 Rupiah per second to all operators" — or seemingly cheaper than Fren with per minute charge of Rp 6 (six rupiah!). Launched just 4 days after Fren's campaign.

XL Ad

Although after reading the terms & conditions, it is just complicated… First of all, it's only for their prepaid customers (Bebas Prepaid Card) and there are different tariffs for different regions. Then the scheme is just complicated: Rp 25/sec for the first two minutes then Rp 10cent/sec for the next two, then back again to 25/sec.

XL previous positioning statement was "no terms and conditions."

It is an interesting time in life for mobile (operator) marketers. Life and death. Why do we always resort to price as the ultimate marketing weapon?

I need to point you to another interesting article comparing Indonesian & US phone price: Reality Check – Wireless Service in Indonesia. The writer showed a good point that on nominal basis, American cellphone calls are twice or three times more expensive Indonesian. However, the comments are also correct by pointing out the difference in GDP. (Based this Wikipedia article, USA PPP is about 12 times of Indonesia). Though in Indonesia we allow subscribers to purchase and consume airtime in very small denomination. And with this recent battle, it's definitely going to be a lot cheaper now…

Anyway, my closing remark is watch the price development of Indonesian mobile phone industry… (and similarly, have a look at India).

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