Indosat Ooredoo chief Ahmad Al-Neama expressed optimism in the operator’s ability to grow revenue during 2021, after it slipped to a loss in 2020 despite gains in ARPU and overall mobile sales.

In a statement, the president director and CEO said Indosat Ooredoo expected “momentum to continue in 2021”, but added “uncertainties associated with the economic recovery” from Covid-19 (coronavirus) left it “cautiously optimistic”, resulting in revenue guidance in-line with the industry.

It booked a net loss of IDR717 billion ($50.8 million) in 2020, compared with a profit of IDR1.57 trillion in 2019 due to one-time costs stemming from a corporate reorganisation.

Revenue increased 6.9 per cent to IDR27.9 trillion, with the mobile figure up 11.6 per cent to IDR23.1 trillion.

Blended ARPU increased 14.3 per cent to IDR31,900, attributed mainly to data traffic jumping 52.8 per cent.

Al-Neama said its continued investment in its LTE network improved the video experience by 55.8 per cent and doubled the download speed. It added 15,000 4G base stations to take its total to 62,887.

Mobile subscribers inched up 1.7 per cent to 60.3 million.

Capex in fell 14.5 per cent to IDR8.678 trillion, with IDR8 trillion earmarked for 2021.