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ublicly listed media company PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek) plans to revamp the Blackberry Messenger (BBM) service both as a messaging application and a digital platform for media content.

Emtek, which operates television stations SCTV and Indosiar under a subsidiary, publicly listed PT Surya Citra Media (SCMA), has yet to monetize the messaging app since its acquisition earlier this year as its popularity fades among Indonesians.

Under the plan, the firm will turn the service into an all-purpose messaging app as well as a platform for its apps, such as news portal liputan6.com, e-commerce marketplace Bukalapak and video sharing site vidio.com.

Developing online apps is not cheap. The firm has had to scramble for available traffic and compete with other start-ups to promote the app and persuade customers to install and continuously use it on their mobile devices, according to Emtek.

Promotional activities alone were expensive, Emtek vice president director Sutanto Hartono said.

“We are sure that the synergy between BBM as a digital platform and our strong media content will be an advantage for Emtek compared to other groups,” he said during a public expose Friday.

Sutanto was optimistic that the chat platform would regain ground in the country, as evidenced by around 60 million monthly activations with 18 billion messages sent per day.

Furthermore, visits to the BBM shop hit 185 million, while advertisement requests, which usually pop up on the platform, amounted to around 1 billion impressions each month.

Previously the most widely used messenger service in Indonesia in the late 2000s, BBM has been outdone by other giant apps, particularly WhatsApp and LINE.

WhatsApp was the world’s most popular mobile messenger app in April this year with more than 1 billion users, 10 times more than the number of BBM users, according to data from statistics portal Statista.

The biggest challenge for its current business strategy will be to win the competition in Jakarta, where the sizeable population utilizes multiple chatting platforms on smart phones, Sutanto said. The firm claimed it controlled a bigger market share outside the capital.

“Our task is how to pick up the market share, how to bring the excitement back,” he told journalists.

To boost its ongoing efforts, Emtek has signed an exclusive license for sport content to be featured on BBM. However, the firm declined to disclose details of the deal.

Another concern is how to monetize the platform, a problem shared by most mobile apps that currently still focus on users and usage numbers, according to Sutanto.

Emtek revenue went up by almost 12 percent to Rp 5.35 trillion (US$399 million) in January to September from the same period last year. Similarly, its costs increased by 11.5 percent to Rp 2.9 trillion.

Foreign exchange (forex) losses of Rp 270 billion during the first three-quarters of the year, which reversed a Rp 838 billion profit booked in the corresponding period last year, badly hit its net profit. The firm’s net profit plunged by more than 77 percent to Rp 331 billion.

Digital apps are a small contributor to its parent company, as the media segment remains dominant with a 68.5 percent share.

Emtek plans to allocate around Rp 200 billion of capital expenditure (capex) next year, a similar amount to this year, to improve both online media and content.

Meanwhile, SCMA recorded revenue worth Rp 3.42 trillion as of September, a 6.6 percent increase year-on-year, while its net profit rose slightly by 0.7 percent to Rp 1.15 trillion. Its costs increased by 3.2 percent to Rp 545.22 billion.

SCMA director Rusmiyati Djajaseputra said her firm would earmark Rp 150 billion for capex, a similar amount to this year.