C

ellular operator PT XL Axiata 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.

'€œWe 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.

'€œWe 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.