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elecommunications operator PT XL Axiata seeks to further assist Indonesia’s small and medium enterprises (SME) through a new home router system that also aims to serve the majority of Indonesians that have no or little access to fiber optic networks.

As data shows that nearly 80 percent of the country’s population does not have proper access to fiber optic networks in their homes, XL’s new XL Home router will take on the home broadband market, which until now had been populated by rivals Telkomsel with its IndiHome and Indosat with its Ooredoo’s GiG.

Launched quietly in January, the 4.5G router package offers a broadband network based on XL’s mobile network, sharing the same network as mobile phones using XL.

The starting quota upon purchase is pegged at 240 gigabytes and the router can be used simultaneously by 32 devices.

XL Center and post-paid services head Rashad Javier Sanchez said the main target of the new item was to provide good home internet access to the majority of the population.

Fiber optic networks are scarce in cities outside Greater Jakarta, thereby offering new potential in the home market.

“The XL Home router system is just the beginning for us in this field. Pretty soon this year, we will be able to branch out and provide other services each quarter. We plan to collaborate with OTT [over the top] companies to provide those features,” he said on Wednesday.

Rashad said the router was expected to help SMEs operate more efficiently. “Being connected through a mobile network will make SMEs not have to worry anymore about digitalizing their processes,” he said.

The router’s launch is also part of XL’s efforts to steadily encourage its customers to move into the 4G network.

“It is in line with our 4G acceleration program and XL’s increasing focus on data traffic,” XL’s general manager for corporate communications Tri Wahyuningsih added.

Since the router’s launch, there are already 30,000 subscribers to the new package. XL will also focus on providing the service in 100 cities connected to its 4G/LTE network.

XL hopes to book over 300,000 subscriptions this year and expects to see the figure take off following the issuance of additional features.

Regarding the shift to 4G, XL says it is not planning to shut down or minimize its 2G network soon on account of the number of 2G users still on the network.

XL said last year that it would continue shifting its 2G network from the faster 1,800 MHz spectrum to the low frequency 900 MHz spectrum to strengthen its 4G network.

However, it said that would only happen if certain areas holding the 4G network “reached their capacities.”

XL is not the only operator gradually reducing its 2G reliance on the 1,800 MHz spectrum. Three other operators have been conducting similar actions for nationwide 4G availability.