Angry Smartfren Users Still Mad Due to Company’s Very Late Explanation

Yesterday, the fiasco made by Indonesian telco and handset manufacturer Smartfren made news all over Indonesia as the company’s internet connections have gone haywire over the last couple of weeks. In fact, the media blowout was big enough to get the Indonesian ICT minister Tifatul Sembiring to personally ask Smartfren about what really happened. And so finally, the company released an official statement.

The release states that a Smartfren submarine cable located between Bangka and Batam islands was cut by an oil ship anchor on March 23rd. It was Smartfren’s main cable route for global internet access. What’s worse is that a few hours after that incident, Smartfren’s two backup networks, called Trans Sumatra, got cut too as there was an avalanche in Palembang city that disrupted Trans Sumatra’s west route, and a construction process by a third party accidentally cut Trans Sumatra’s east route as well. It’s was a total disaster and that resulted in Smartfren’s internet access operating at 10 percent capacity over the last few days.

Interestingly, the information Smartfren released is a bit different from the version given to – and then tweeted by – Tifatul during his inquiry. He said that Smartfren’s submarine route got cut on March 15th, not March 23rd, and it brought the company down to 60 percent capacity. The avalanche happened the following day, and Smartfren’s other backup route got disconnected on March 17th. The company then used an additional submarine cable from a third party on March 18th but unfortunately it was cut as well on March 23rd.

Smartfren hopes that they can operate at at least 50 percent capacity as of today with the restoration of one of Trans Sumatra’s network routes and the addition of a third party’s network. Smartfren apologizes for the inconvenience experienced by its customers.

Angry users

Looking over Smartfren’s apology and explanation about the situation on its Facebook post, a lot of users are still disgruntled. They lamented the fact that the explanation came only after the ICT minister took matters into his own hands and inquired about it. Indonesian media Detik backed this claim by saying that none of Smartfren’s higher-ups were even reachable before the Indonesian government intervened.

The users are also demanding compensation from the company. One user calculated that since Smartfren’s monthly data plan costs IDR 99,000 (US$10), counting based on its five million data users the company earns around IDR 16.5 billion ($1.7 million) of revenue every single day, revenue that isn’t in line with the company’s promised service. The company has responsibility to quickly give explanation whenever there is a major problem, users say.

A few users also pointed out that they had been having internet problems since two weeks ago – which supports Tifatul’s explanation and not Smartfren’s – and said that apologies do not cut it at this stage if the company wants to hold on to its customers. Smartfren still has some explaining to do regarding the one-week timeline difference that has arisen.

Compensation is possible

So what about compensation? Tifatul said that they expect to hear the full report from Smartfren and if the fiasco is found to be the telco’s fault, then it will be compulsory for the company to offer compensation to users. Guilty or not, Smartfren itself is also considering offering its users some form of compensation in the hope of appeasing its angry customers.

Following this blowout, the company has increased the capacity of its Surabaya-Jakarta internet route. Smartfren is also looking to build more of them in the next couple of years to cope with its user growth.

Back in December 2006, local telco Telkomsel had a serious issue with its communication network and was unable to cater to the increasing volume of usage at the end of the year. The telco issued an apology and gave its users compensation in the form of bonus program extensions and discounts.

The submarine cable incident actually affected another Indonesian internet service provider too: Telkom Speedy. But unlike Smartfren, Telkom Speedy’s backup routes remained undisturbed and it could still serve its users sufficiently. There were a few complaints posted to Telkom Speedy’s Facebook page during this period, but the number of complaints pales in comparison with what Smartfren has received from its customers.