Indosat Ooredoo booked continued strong growth in mobile turnover on the back of subscriber and ARPU gains, while its net loss widened year-on-year.

In a statement, the operator said growth in subscribers and ARPU suggested its network investments, digital initiatives and consumer offerings were delivering favourable results, adding in a market where most operators are offering unlimited plans, it “managed to maintain growth momentum with improved network experience and value for money pricing”.

Net loss in the January to September period swelled 61 per cent year-on-year to IDR458 billion ($31.4 million). The comparative decline was partly due to a one-off income tax benefit booked in the same period of 2019.

A 12.9 per cent increase in mobile revenue to IDR17.03 trillion drove a 9.2 per cent rise in its total turnover to IDR20.59 trillion.

In the first half of the year, revenue increased 11.8 per cent to IDR11.1 trillion.

The operator’s subscriber base rose 2.8 per cent year-on-year to 60.4 million, while blended ARPU increased 14 per cent to IDR31,700.

Capex in the period fell 9.1 per cent to IDR5.95 trillion, with the capex to revenue ratio dropping to 28.9 per cent from 34.7 per cent from a year earlier.

It doubled the number 4G base stations year-on-year to take the count to nearly 60,000 sites.