DIGITALISING TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
The growth in demand for digital services across the region has seen our associates respond quickly with innovative digital products and services. They are investing resources to digitalise processes, developing channels such as online self-care services and fielding virtual assistants to help them better engage customers and handle the higher volumes of interactions from a growing customer base. Digitalisation has also allowed them to deliver more targeted and personalised content such as music, video and gaming directly through their own mobile apps, such as My Airtel, AIS Play and Telkomsel’s MAXstream.
To meet the growing demand for data, our associates collectively invested S$8.9 billion in their networks over the past year to deliver faster, seamless connections and prepare for the next generation of connectivity.
They also continue to push services and solutions for small homes and businesses that complement their mobile offerings, with AIS making inroads with AIS Fibre in Thailand, and Globe expanding their fixed wireless home base in the Philippines.
IMPROVING MOBILE FINANCIAL OFFERINGS
As a Group, we are improving our mobile financial offerings to bring greater convenience to customers and drive financial inclusion. We are enhancing our mobile wallets, expanding our merchant networks and introducing more services that will help our customers, in particular the unbanked or under-banked, plug into the digital economy. In Indonesia, Telkomsel’s Tcash is now LinkAja, a single mobile payments platform to facilitate cashless transactions, from utilities and transport payment to e-shopping, all without the need for a bank account. In the Philippines, Globe has embarked on data-driven lending, assigning a “trust score” to customers based on their GCash usage to determine credit worthiness.
In Singapore, Dash partnered with Apple and VISA, extending its acceptance network internationally through ApplePay and VISA Contactless points, and added Myanmar to its existing remittance corridors.
BUILDING A MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES ECOSYSTEM ACROSS THE REGION
The Group is leveraging its telco assets and scale to build a mobile financial ecosystem that will unlock growth potential in the region. To realise that vision, we debuted VIA, Asia’s first cross-border mobile payment alliance. VIA gives travellers the convenience of using their local wallets that are part of the alliance at participating merchants in the region at competitive exchange rates, and widens the reach of small merchants to millions of consumers. Initially launched between Singapore and Thailand with AIS and Kasikornbank, VIA will soon be available in more countries such as Malaysia through Axiata Digital’s Boost wallet and Japan through Netstars.
ENGAGING CONSUMERS THROUGH GAMING AND DIGITAL CONTENT
To connect with a millennial audience, the Group is moving towards becoming a leader in offering high quality gaming content. Our inaugural PVP Esports Championship was a huge success with the live finals played before a sold-out audience and broadcast on major streaming platforms such as Twitch, Facebook and Douyu.
We are extending our gaming focus by exploring opportunities with like-minded partners to drive the development of a vibrant gaming community in the region. We signed an MOU with South Korean gaming giant SK Telecom to grow regional gaming leagues, develop content and explore game distribution, with the aim of delivering a more holistic gaming experience for our millennial customers.