Telkom Strengthens International Digital Business Through Online Transportation Application "MyTimor"

Telkom Group has begun to aggressively encourage digital business abroad. Starting from Telkomcel, this telecommunications operator based in Timor Leste has entered an online transportation service called MyTimor. The application has been available for use by the local community since November and officially launched in early December 2020.

MyTimor currently only provides transportation ordering services (motorcycles and taxis) as well as online delivery of goods. Telkomcel claims to be the first telecommunications operator in Timor Leste to launch an application ride hailing.

In its official statement at the time, Telkomcel said that the MyTimor application was here to accelerate the adoption of digital technology. Moreover, Timor Leste as a developing country now also has an increasingly active portion of the millennial generation.

DailySocial contacted Telkomcel CEO Yogi Rizkian Bahar separately regarding the development of MyTimor and further plans. According to Yogi, initially the company wanted to collaborate to develop MyTimor. However, the company decided to build its own app from scratch.

"Enough fun journey-his. We had time to do pitching in India, but we ended up using developer internally to build the application. So far, tractionits very good. Already started a lot driver and users who register and try the service," he said.

Regarding the tariff system, Telkomcel VP Finance & Human Capital Dedy Edward added that this was in accordance with the agreement with local partners. His party did not elaborate further on the price, but currently MyTimor has partnered with Corrotrans as the license holder for the transportation operation in Timor Leste.

"Currently, we are partnering with Corrotrans and taxi cooperatives in Timor Leste (yellow taxis). We will develop [the partnership] in accordance with the market and product development of our application," he said in a short message to DailySocial.

Telkomcel operates under the auspices of Telkom Indonesia International (Telin). Telin is a subsidiary of the Telkom Group, which was established in 2007. Currently, Telin operates in a number of countries, including the United States (US), Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Macau, Myanmar, Singapore, and Taiwan. Not only telecommunications, the company also offers IT solutions for the segment enterprise and retail.

MyFood expansion in the first quarter of 2021

Furthermore, Yogi admitted that his party had prepared a number of digital solutions which will be launched in 2021. This indicates that Telkomcel will focus on developing the MyTimor service ecosystem as a similar model has been carried out by players in Indonesia, namely Gojek and Grab.

"The plan is that we want to launch a MyFood service which is equivalent to GoFood's Gojek in February 2021. This will be an effort to build the ecosystem as a whole," Yogi explained.

In addition, Telkomcel will also strengthen the ecosystem with Tpay as the payment points to encourage cashless payments. Tpay is said to have launched since 2020 and received a digital payment license in Timor Leste. According to Yogi, positioning Tpay is similar to LinkAja which can be used by people from various operators.

Besides MyTimor, he said, Telkomcel also has a digital business in the application category streaming musik Music which is said to have operated in Myanmar and has a branch office there.

According to him, MyTimor or Musica's business model could be duplicated as business case in other countries where Telin operates. "Especially for MyTimor, there are regulators involved so that the business case will be seen from each country to determine the assessment Furthermore. This will be new business model forward," he said.

Synergy of domestic and foreign capabilities

Telecommunication operators during the last decade have indeed found it difficult to transform, especially after the hectic use of foreign digital platforms aka OTT in Indonesia. Industry players have indeed tried to adapt by exploring various digital business models, but to no avail.

Telkom has closed the service marketplace Blanja.com, XL Axiata have sold Elevenia, and Indosat has discontinued Cipika. This is an example that the e-commerce business model does not sustainable for operators.

One of the challenges why this model is not successful is that telecommunication operators do not have the capability or expertise in the digital field so that these services are unable to make a significant contribution to performance. Efforts to 'burn money' to pursue traction cannot be carried out continuously considering the telecommunications industry is very investment-intensive.

Learning from his experience running Blanja.com and T-cash (now LinkAja), Telkom began to maneuver to boost digital business with non-organic strategies. This effort has become more aggressive in recent years if we look at Telkom's solid steps in forming MDI Ventures and Telkomsel Mitra Innovation (TMI) as an extension of its investment.

MDI Ventures is listed as having invest in 44 startups spread over 12 countries. In fact, one of the focuses going forward is to carry out portfolio synergies with other SOE subsidiaries. Leverage technology and innovation means that it will not only be limited between Telkom and its portfolio.

DailySocial had contacted MDI Ventures Managing Partner Kenneth Li and CEO Telkomsel Innovation Partner Andi Kristanto to ascertain whether the synergy also applies to Telin's business in various countries.

Kenneth only mentioned that there were several MDI Ventures portfolios in the US and Singapore that were synergized with Telin's subsidiaries, but no further information could be shared. Meanwhile, this is different from TMI. "For TMI, the focus is on Telkomsel only," said Andi in a short message.

Another big step is Telkom appointing the former president of Bukalapak Fajrin Rashid as Director of Digital Business as of June 2020. Fajrid was again appointed as President Commissioner of MDI Ventures and advisor to the Centauri Fund in August 2020. Then, in November 2020, Telkom through its subsidiary Telkomsel officially inject investment into Gojek with a value of $ 150 million (equivalent to Rp. 2,1 trillion).

With its portfolio network through MDI Ventures, Telkom has the ability and capability to improve its position as a digital telecommunications operator (digico) not only domestically, but also abroad. This can make it easier knowledge transfer to Telkom's business in a number of countries.