Good morning. Good afternoon, and thank you all of you for joining this call today. Quarter two results we are presenting today, it's a significant milestone for us. For the first time, we are presenting the consolidated financials for XL Smart. This time we're in April, 16th of April to be exact. If I quickly move to the first slide, which is talking about the highlights of the second quarter. Given the merger, this quarter reflects a much larger operational scale. We consolidated two and a half months of Smart's legacy performance into the financials of XL Smart. We believe we started off well with the ground run integration, and I'm pleased to report that synergy realization is on track. Network integration is also progressing according to the plan, and we're already seeing significant tangible improvement in customer experience. Obviously, I'll talk about this a bit more later.
We are using this integration, as I spoke about earlier, prior to the integration, not just to combine assets, but to modernize the network. You would see that reflected in our Capex plan. Our goal is to significantly expand both capacity and coverage across Indonesia. With the merger now completed, we are entering the next phase, the position of growth strength. Backed by our three powerful brands: XL, AXIS, and Smartfren, a much larger, broader distribution network, and a much better network. We are now better equipped to serve a wide range of customer segments across the market. That's the broad highlights for the second quarter. If I move to the next one, which is about how do we plan to unlock the long-term value with this merger? I'll take a step back and share the broader vision behind the foundation of XL Smart.
I think I'll be repeating when I say this, this merger is not about combining two businesses. It is more about unlocking long-term value through three critical dimensions, which will enable us to realize the purpose which we have, which is connecting every Indonesian for a better life. The first one is the scale advantage. By bringing together the strengths of both XL and Smart, we now operate at a significantly large scale. A combined footprint allows us to optimize spectrum usage, improve network coverage, and improve unit economics. This scale gives us the ability to deploy resources more effectively and respond to the market dynamics with greater agility, which is particularly important in an industry like ours, which is very dynamic, things change at a very rapid pace. The second dimension is about the synergy, and we are focused on capturing the synergy potential of the merger.
As you know, the largest portion of value will come from structural cost savings, especially on the network side. It will also come from vendor consolidation, vendor streamlining, and leveraging of these shared platforms. We've made significant progress already in aligning infrastructure and renegotiating key contracts to unlock values. This is not just about cost saving. It is about building a leaner, more focused organization, ready to compete at the next level. The third dimension is about creating a platform for growth. This merger creates a very powerful platform for long-term growth. We believe that we are now in a much better position to expand into new growth areas, such as fixed broadband at home, enterprise connectivity, and the digital ecosystem. These are strategic growth engines that will define the next chapter of our business.
If I have to summarize, while the near-term effects of any integration would be there, and those pressures would be there on the financials in the short term, we are confident in our ability to unlock significant value and accelerate growth in the quarters ahead. If I move to the next one, please. As we move forward, I'm pleased to report that XL Smart has made significant strides in capturing early synergies across three areas beyond others: technology, commercial, and people. On the technology front, we've expanded network coverage to national roaming and local, improving service reach and efficiency. Our managed service and NOC are now fully integrated, allowing us to operate as one network. We've also started consolidating vendors to improve speed of response and reduce costs. On the commercial front, we continue to operate three brands post-merger: XL, AXIS, and Smart.
We believe this is a unique position we have, where we have three very strong brands, each with more than 20 million customers, which will help drive monetization across our entire product portfolio. We've also integrated the field forces and the digital platforms to serve both our customers and the trade, and thereby strengthen our commercial execution. On the people side, we spent a significant amount of time because we realized integrating the two teams would be a key determinant of our future success. As you would know, the shareholders moved very quickly upon the new BOD team and the new BOC team prior to LD1. We've also recently appointed a dedicated Director of Integration who comes with strong experience on running successful integrations. Employee engagement, as I mentioned, has been a strong focus.
We've been actively involving teams across the country, and we believe these initiatives are just the beginning. We're building the foundation for long-term value by executing fast, aligning teams, and unlocking scale. We are confident that the groundwork laid today will translate into stronger operational and financial performance in the coming quarters. If I may move to the next one, this is some progress on our integration. I would just give some color on that. I'm pleased to report that we are off to a very strong and encouraging start. As we told earlier, the target is to finish full integration within eight quarters, and we believe this timeline is both ambitious and achievable, thanks to a very strong team and a very strong commitment of the entire set of people whom I have the privilege to lead.
From day one, we've been laser-focused on integrating our network, our IT systems, people, commercial operations, all of them, with one goal in mind: to build a stronger, more unified XL Smart. At the core of this would be the customer experience. Anything and everything we do, the idea is to ensure that the customer experience is much better than previous, and we are already seeing some initial results of that. We've hit the ground running. We have top-tier network integration vendors already on board to help us move faster and smarter. Commercial rollout is well underway across all regions, in the regions where we started with national roaming and subsequently regions where we've done modernization of sites, ensuring that customers from both legacy networks can enjoy a harmonized and a much improved service. Our people are coming together.
We've made strong progress in aligning cultures and building momentum through targeted onboarding and engagement efforts. As I said, we're already seeing some positive signs. Users are getting a much better experience, especially Smartfren subscribers. They're enjoying a much wider coverage. Traffic is rising in the areas that we have completed integration. This gives us confidence that we are on the right track, delivering real value as we speak while also building a stage for future growth. Of course, there's much more work to be done, but the energy alignment backed by the results which we are having gives us every reason to be optimistic about the future. We are building momentum, but we also realize we're just getting started. If I move to the next one, please. This is about the network integration and the improvement in the coverage and the user experience.
These are some initial results which show how the XL Smart merger is already delivering real benefits. I'm proud to say that we've completed the fastest nationwide roaming activation. 100% of this was done in less than 60 days. This enables seamless access for Smartfren customers to access XL network. We now operate with a much larger and more efficient spectrum portfolio, which is helping us deliver better capacity and speed. Today, our wider network footprint covers 475 cities across the country. Importantly, 156 of these cities are newly accessible to Smartfren subscribers, where the Smartfren presence was close to nothing. That's a major leap for those sets of customers in terms of availability and the service quality. The team has done an incredible job. Over 11,000 sites have already been integrated. You can also see the impact of larger scale in the number of BTSs we have.
Our number of BTS accounts grew 28% year- on- year, reaching nearly 210,000 sites end of Q2, with the majority now operating on 4G. This scale-up is just not about infrastructure. It's also about impact because that's what we really are after. We're delivering much better connectivity, more consistent user experience, and broader coverage that supports Indonesia's digital transformation goals. The next slide talks about the future investment or the investment for the future, if I may call it. This is something I really want to stress upon. We believe that we are executing a bold and strategic CapEx plan, one that positions us not just to integrate, but modernize our infrastructure and deliver a high-capacity, future-ready network across Indonesia. This is not business as usual. This is not a usual merger CapEx plan. This is more a strategic push to scale up our network performance and unlock long-term value.
As I said earlier, we have a much better unified vendor ecosystem with two large radio vendors, giving us much better cost control, faster rollout, and tighter execution across the board. Through network consolidation, we are eliminating duplication and maximizing utilization of every asset in a portfolio, driving towards smarter, leaner infrastructure. As all of you know, who are experts in telecom, this is not just about today's traffic. It's about creating opportunities for the future. These investments which we're doing now lay the foundation for us for future growth, for capturing future growth across digital services, enterprise solutions, and future capabilities which we'll be developing. We also believe, and so do the shareholders, that this is the right time to invest. The market is shifting. We are building scale, and we are moving decisively to turn that into a long-term competitive advantage.
This CapEx, I'll want to reiterate, it's not just about today and now. It's not just about integration. It's about positioning XL Smart to be able to capture a long-term value. The next slide, I believe, is my last slide, which is about the digital engagement across these three brands. This highlights the progress we are making in accelerating this digital engagement, an area where we were already strong. We are seeing even more positive momentum. Across the three apps we have, MyXL, AXISNet, and MySmartfren, we now serve more than 41 million monthly active users, which is a 29% increase year on year. More than 50% of our user base now actively transacts through our own apps. It's a clear sign that customers appreciate simplicity, control, and personalized offer which we deliver through these platforms. Just as importantly, this engagement is translating into results.
A revenue contribution from our own apps has grown at an impressive 18% cumulative over the last two years, 18% CAGR over the last two years. We believe these digital platforms will be a key engine for our future value creation. With three apps now under one roof, we are well positioned to continue scaling engagement, driving ARPU, and delivering our brilliant, seamless digital experiences for all our customers. I'll take a pause now and hand over to my colleague, Pak Antony, our CFO, to run through the financial numbers.
Okay. Thank you Pak Rajeev, and good afternoon, everyone. Let me continue the presentation by presenting our financial and operational performance of Q2 2025. Let me start with our operational metrics. As of Q2 2025, our consolidated subscriber base stood at 82.6 million customers. This is comprised from postpaid as well as prepaid customers from the three brands that we have, XL, AXIS, and Smartfren. The mobile data traffic grew by 43% year on year, mostly driven because of the combined subscribers of XL and Smartfren, and also because of the sustained robust demand for data services. We observe the market competition is now entering into a more rational phase. In March 2025, we have adjusted our starter pack price, and we will continue to focus on acquiring and retaining the high-quality customers.
We are confident that our significantly improved network quality will be one of the key differentiators for XL Smart to capture the market. In terms of the ARPU, following the merger, blended ARPU declined to IDR 36,000 , reflecting the inclusion of the Smartfren product brand. We anticipate ARPU will increase in the coming quarter because of the market consolidation in progress and also the impact of our price adjustment in starter pack price already taken into place. We remain committed to drive the long-term ARPU sustainability through a deeper digital engagement via our own application, through the convergence offerings, as well as targeted monetization initiatives. Next slide, maybe. Moving on to the financial performance, let me start with the revenue numbers. In Q2 2025, our revenue grew by 22% QoQ as well as year on year, to IDR 10.5 trillion.
This is mostly driven from the post-merger consolidation and supported by a stronger mobile customer base. On the first half basis, our revenue reached IDR 19.1 trillion , an increase by 12% year on year, reflecting the enlarged scale as well as a healthy data demand. Moving on to the EBITDA numbers, our reported EBITDA increased by 4% quarter on quarter. To provide a better visibility to everyone on the EBITDA, we are also presenting a normalized EBITDA. What does it mean? It means that it's excluded the one-off expenses, which is the integration-related costs. On this basis, our normalized EBITDA is actually increased by 15% QoQ , highlighting the underlying strength of our operation despite the integration expenses ongoing.
On the profit after tax PAT, as we are in the midst of the network vendor consolidation, quarter two 2025 profit after tax was also impacted by one-off items such as integration costs, the asset impairment, and the accelerated depreciation of the potential unused equipment from the old vendors, as well as the 900 MHz assets that are being phased out because the government will try to return, we would like us to return the 900 MHz in December 2026. If we strip out these one-off items, then we will be able to get normalized PAT at IDR 313 billion in the second quarter of 2025. This normalized PAT will provide a clearer picture of our underlying earnings trajectory. Lastly, on the margins, normalized EBITDA margin came in at 47% for the second quarter of 2025. If we compare to last year, it was 52%.
This is the reason because Smartfren came in from the lower base. As the integration continues and synergy materializes, we remain confident that the margin definitely will improve from time to time. Next slide. In this slide, I think we would like to emphasize or present both reported and normalized EBITDA and normalized profit after tax to provide a clearer view of underlying performance during the integration period. Normalized figures, again, like I need to emphasize, this means that exclude one-off items such as integration costs, and then accelerated depreciation, as well as the asset impairment related to our investment in Link Net. In the second quarter of 2025, our reported EBITDA was IDR 4.5 trillion, while in the normalization, if we are adding back the IDR 500 billion of integration expenses, it will bring us to the normalized EBITDA at IDR 5 trillion.
The reported PAT stood at a loss at IDR 1.6 trillion, but after adjusting for integration costs, accelerated depreciation, and asset impairment, then normalized PAT was positive at IDR 313 billion. This approach, I believe, will provide comparable figures and better reflect the company core operational performance. Move on. This slide is about operating expenses. As you can see from the chart, our total operating expenses in Q2 2025 increased to IDR 6 trillion, an increase of 46% year on year. This is reflecting the expanded scale of our operations following the merger of XL and Smartfren. This increase is expected and aligns with our strategic investment where we have made to support integration and future growth. On a half-year basis, operating expenses increased by 27% compared to the first half of 2024. This step-up in cost increase is largely driven from the three key areas.
The first one, of course, interconnection and other direct expenses. Number two is the network infrastructure, and the third one is the regulatory costs. This is our first quarter post-merger. We have quickly leveraged the momentum on integration to ensure the synergy can be delivered according to the plan. Let me try to explain it briefly on the operating expenses. The first one on the interconnection and direct costs item, it is increased by 48% year on year. This is primarily due to higher COGS, which is associated with the acquisition of a fixed broadband subscriber from Link Net, and also because of the higher revenue numbers post-merger. Labor costs, it's more than double, increasing 139% year on year. This is due to integration of the employees from both companies, XL and Smartfren, plus also from the fixed broadband business, along with what there is a one-off integration cost.
The sales marketing cost decreased by 4% year on year. This is mainly driven because of the lower sales commission, reflecting our continued focus on the sales channel optimization, as well as the digital initiative. Infrastructure costs increased by 28% year on year, as we ramp up our network integration efforts and expanded our site deployments to support our larger footprints. The regulatory costs increased 48% year on year because of the additional spectrum fees post-merger and higher BHP USO charges resulting from the increase of our revenue base. The last one on the supplies and overhead expenses increased by 69% year on year, driven by the higher professional fees related to the integration, also increase of the GNA expenses and expanded support functions. However, despite the higher cost base, we remain focused on extracting the synergies over the medium term.
Many of these cost increases, I believe, are transitional, and it's related to integration and scaling up the activities. We expect that these expenses to normalize over time as we execute our synergy capture, our synergy will be captured in the future. In short, we are laying, actually, we are laying a stronger foundation for future growth. We remain confident that this one investment will unlock meaningful operation and financial benefits over time. Throughout the integration period, we will further continue to drive our cost excellence, ensuring that all the expenditures are tightly focused, so it will create a long-term value and position XL Smart for sustained success. That is the end of my presentation. I shall now hand over back to Rajeev to provide the full year 2025 guidance. Thank you.
Thank you, Pak Antony. I will just take the last bit, which is about the guidance for 2025. We believe that we'll be able to maintain a strong momentum in integrating both commercial and network operations with a clear focus on unlocking the merger's full synergy potential. We anticipate that the consolidated revenue will grow broadly in line with the market. On a reported basis, this will translate to a 20% to 30% increase compared to legacy XL Axiata's pre-merger 2024 full-year performance. This number is, of course, driven by first-year consolidation of Smartfren and the full-year contribution from the transfer of the fixed broadband customers from Link Net in September last year. We expect EBITDA margins to remain in the low to mid-40% range, impacted by the integration costs, which Pak Antony spoke about.
While 2025 will be a transition year in which upfront integration costs will temporarily weigh on profitability, these investments are essential to secure long-term value creation. As we focus on integrating and modernizing the network, we expect capital expenditure to be significantly elevated in the range of IDR 20 trillion - IDR 25 trillion. This reflects the dual agenda: sustaining our BAU investment, and, if I may say, more importantly, having the Capex to modernize the network and making it future-ready. Throughout this process, we are firmly committed to maintaining financial discipline, ensuring that all investments are rigorously evaluated and that our leverage remains at a prudent and manageable level. Most importantly, we expect to start realizing merger synergies this year with our projected gross synergy of between $100 million - $200 million in 2025, largely from operational expense efficiencies.
Post-merger completion, post-full integration, we are on track to deliver between $300 million - $400 million annual synergy. In closing, we recognize that integration is not a single step. It's a multi-step journey. While we are still at the early stages of this integration process, the initial results have been encouraging, and we are confident in our ability to achieve our synergy targets and create long-term value for our shareholders. With this, I conclude my summary of our second quarter 2025 results. Thank you, and I hand it back to the moderator, Christopher.
Thank you, Rajeev, for your presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now exit the Q&A session. As a reminder, the Q&A session will be in hybrid mode. As a question, you may type it in the Q&A box. Please ensure to also type in your name and company name. If you have further clarification after your question is answered, I will use the raise-hand button and we will proceed to unmute your mic. Please allow some time for us to unmute the questions. Okay, thank you.
Okay, question comes from Henry Angel and Mr. Chris. Questions, first one, can you share about an excellent journey in XL Smart? It seems that the number of subscribers of XL Smart increased after first one, and the number of subscribers between the Smartfren and the new subscribers. Second, how much integration costs and external communication month to month are missing? If you start with the first question, I would like to ask the question colleagues.
Yeah, so I think regarding the subscribers, you're right, if we take a look at the reported subscribers now, it's less than the subscribers that were reported by XL Axiata before, plus the Smartfren ones. This is mainly because of how we count the subscribers. As you know, the definition of the subscriber, on how to count this, it's different for each operator. The moment that we normalize this, this is the result. It's not really anyone like really losing subscribers. It's a fact of how we define subscribers. Actually, if you take a look at the reported subscribers by all the operators in Indonesia, you will see that the number probably wasn't, it's very high, right? There is a very high metrics on mobile teams. I think that's the main explanation.
Antony, can you share some colors on the integration-related one-off costs?
Okay. Okay, so Pak Henry, on the integration costs, actually, I think that after the merger is completed on the 15th of April, our focus today, of course, is on the integration. Integration costs are expected by the management, definitely. Integration activities will continue, as we explained, that it will be within like six to eight quarters, yeah, 2025 as well as 2026. We expect there will be integration costs within this year, as well as maybe perhaps some of it in 2026 as well. These costs, integration costs, are very important, and it's necessary for us to incur because we want to realize long-term synergies across our network, commercial, as well as the organization structure. The source of integration costs, I think, as we know, that is for the network consolidation, dismantling of duplicate towers.
We do some commercial alignment and many other employee-related costs, and so on and so on. Yes, we expect some integration costs in the future. In terms of the accelerated depreciation, also, this is the same reason that I think in this quarter two of 2025, our accelerated depreciation was around IDR 739 billion. This consists of the equipment related to the 900 MHz spectrum, as well as, oh, cannot hear it. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Now I'm changing my mic. In terms of the accelerated depreciation, I think as reported that in Q2 2025, we reported IDR 739 billion accelerated depreciation.
This is because of the equipment related to the 900 MHz spectrum, where we want to return it in December 2026 next year, as well as the IDR 739 billion accelerated depreciation was also because of the unused equipment from our old vendors, where we want to replace it with the new equipment. I think as we continue to integrate the network, we expect this accelerated depreciation will be further incurred in this year, mostly happening hopefully in 2025, and then a small portion in next year, 2026. That's to answer the question on the accelerated depreciation as well as the integration costs. Thank you.
Thank you, Pak Antony. I'd like to open now the line for Henry Major. Henry, do you want to make a follow-up question?
Hi. Yeah, thank you, Pak Chris, and thank you, management. Perhaps two follow-up questions from me, if I may. First, on Pak David. Sorry, I think your voice is kind of breaking up, but would you mind to clarify what would be the definition difference between the XL Axiata and Smartfren in terms of the subscribers? What will be our new definition in here for the subscribers? The second question to Pak Antony, would you mind to share some colors in terms of the values that we should look for in terms of these integration costs? I mean, like I know that these costs will be very important for the XL S, but perhaps some colors on, you know, the integration costs in your budget or the accelerated depreciation that you have put in your budget will be very useful for us, Pak. Thank you.
Okay. Let me take the first question. The definition that has been used in XL Axiata for the last few years is the number of subscribers. It's the subscribers who have had an event with us in the last 75 days. That's the definition that has been adopted also by XL Smart. It has not changed. It's any subscriber that has had an event with the company in our network in the last 75 days. That's, again, the XL Smart definition, and that's why the number that you see is different from the one that was reported before by each of the companies.
For the integration costs, as we reported, Q2 was IDR 480-something billion , right? We expect there will be integration costs coming in Q3 as well, Q4. Maybe the number is around IDR 1 trillion. Of course, we try to make this as efficient as possible.
We do expect that there will be some increase. I think we need to understand that this integration cost is a one-off expense. Again, I keep saying, to unlock the synergies. The synergies that we are talking about for this year will be around $100 million - $200 million. That is only for this year. In the coming years, hopefully once the integration project is completed, we can enjoy a synergy saving around $300 million - $400 million per annum. Thank you.
Sorry. Perhaps, Pak Antony, the IDR 1 trillion that you mentioned, is this for per quarter or is it for the total in the second half, Pak?
This is for the second half, Pak Henry.
Okay. Noted. Thank you, Pak Antony. Thank you, Pak David, and all the best for the second half.
Thank you, Pak Henry. All right. We shall move now to the next question from Endo Takashi. Endo Takashi, on question, labor costs double as the most. The number of employees almost doubled. Will there be a number of employees remain or will there be layoffs? I think I would like to pass to Pak Antony to start the question.
Yeah, I think if I may jump in, Christopher, on this one. What we are doing as of now is deciding our future operating model on how do we want to run this company in the long term. There are debates about different models, different distribution models, insourcing, outsourcing. All those debates are happening now. Once we are done with that, we'll be ready with the future organization structure. That future organization structure will determine the number of resources we need. Obviously, the number of resources we'll need in the future will be lesser than what we have as two entities put together. How much that delta would be, we won't be in a position to disclose now because we really do not know the exact number there. It's a consequence of the operating model and therefore the organization structure.
The short answer would be there would be some people who would not be required in the future organization structure. How do we deal with that? When you term that as layoff, it's something we will determine as we move forward. Obviously, as we said, our employees and our customers remain at the forefront of whatever we want to do. That's the answer to that. In case you have any follow-up questions, happy to answer that, Endo.
All right, let's move to the next question.
Okay. All right. Now let's move to the next question. The next question comes from Andre Par from the interest question.
I don't know. This question about subscriber growth in section 2025 at XL Axiata only. If there is any increase or decrease, can you discuss on the reasoning? I'd like to invite David Arcelus Oses to help clarify.
Yeah. I don't think we will disclose the numbers per brand, but since it's the first time, I will just. Sure. If we take a look to the legacy XL Axiata from quarter one to quarter two, there will be a slight increase in the number of subscribers with the same definition, of course, that we have always had.
Okay. One more question. Now, let's see how much synergies are going on. I'm going to go ahead and answer that. I think that's about synergies. I'll just mention how much we've realized technology level now, but at the consumer design, how much of it is part of the synergies. Since it is about the supply and distribution costs to be incurred, I believe it is outside of our realm. Most relevant is the idea of not merging synergies. For now, with three questions, I would like to invite Pak Antony to talk about the colors.
Okay. Thank you. The first question is about the gross synergies in full year 2025. How much will be realized through the P&L? Okay. I think, like I mentioned, I think also provided in the guidance that the gross synergies of OpEx, we will realize, hopefully, we will be able to realize it reflected in our P&L. It's around $100 million - $200 million. I think we are still tabulating the numbers. I think in the next quarter of quarter three, I think we will start sharing with you on how much actual numbers that we are able to generate. For the time being, I think we can just provide you the guidance. It will be around $100 million - $200 million. In terms of the CapEx synergies, I believe this one is quite substantial.
I cannot remember the numbers, but it's quite substantial because we are already able to close the winner of the vendor's equipment. That happened in the last quarter. At that time, we announced that two vendors are the winners, and then we already enjoyed some benefits on the vendor awarding because the cost price, most of the vendors here are contributing, also make some investment. There is a benefit that we enjoy as a company. I cannot remember how much is the amount. I'll get back to you on that later. Yeah. Number two, like Chris already mentioned, it's already there. It's already explained to you on the previous question by Pak Henry as well. Number three, what is the NPV of net merger synergy or the net merger synergies?
If, let's say, the expected integration cost is around IDR 1 trillion-IDR 1.5 trillion, and then if, let's say, our target is 100 for synergies, it's $100 million -$ 200 million by the end of the year, then we can do our own math that if, let's say, we can enjoy $100 million, let's say, from the synergies, we can enjoy $200 million. $200 million is around IDR 3.2 trillion. IDR 3.2 trillion. While the integration cost is around IDR 1.5 trillion, the net synergies will be around IDR 1.7 trillion. Yeah. I think that's the numbers. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Pak Antony. I'd like now to invite Hong.
Hi. Thanks for the call. A couple of follow-up questions from me. Pak, I just wanted to double confirm on this, right? You mentioned that the integration costs for the full year, including what you've already incurred in the second quarter, is approximately about IDR 1.5 trillion. You are saying that your gross synergies, which would be around $100 million - $200 million, which is about IDR 1.6 to about IDR 3.2 trillion, which means to say for this year itself, you are expecting a net positive impact on the P&L from the merger?
Yes. Definitely, yes. Yeah. I think just to clarify one bit, as we said, a significant amount of these savings will come from the network consolidation, which has an impact on the tower lease, correct? That bit will come through that ROU reduction, which will come below EBITDA. Obviously, financial experts can explain it better. What will be the exact impact on the profitability of this year of the saving? In terms of cash share saving, it will be between, as you were rightly pointing out, between IDR 1.6 trillion to IDR 3.2 trillion, while the cash cost will be around IDR 1.5 trillion. At a cash basis, this will, at the lower end of the synergy savings, still be positive.
Okay. Understood on that. On the CapEx guidance, which is pretty high for this year, noted on your comments on why you're doing this. Can I try and understand here whether most of the CapEx that you are going to be spending to achieve these objectives would be incurred in 2025 itself, or will some of that still be incurred in 2026 and 2027? I just want to understand when will your CapEx come back to more normal levels?
I'll take a question for XL Axiata.
Okay. At this point of time, we are in a position to provide you what's there for 2025. I think in the subsequent quarter, we can come and share with you how we anticipate this CapEx numbers going in 2026 and beyond. At this point of time, we are not in a position to share that. We have a robust plan. I would want to reiterate what we are trying to do now is not just merging the two networks, but creating a network which is ready for the future. It's not only the radio side, but also the other supporting systems, which is also the core, the transmission, and also the IT systems.
Okay. Understood. Just one last quick question from me. What is the leftover net book value for Link Net after the impairment?
You mean the carrying amount?
Correct. Yeah, what's the carrying amount left?
I think it's around IDR 1.3 trillion as of June 2025.
Okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you so much, management team.
Thank you, Phil. All right. Let's move on to the next question from Sabrina from Trimaga. I think two questions. First question is about what is causing the normalized PAT to come down Q o Q. I think this one can be addressed by Pak Antony. The second one is about XL Subs and ARPU amounts in Q2. I think this has already been addressed by David earlier, but maybe you can add some more colors.
Yeah. The normalized PAT come down Q o Q. I think, as we know, that Q1 was only for XL Axiata standalone, while Q2, there is the 2.5 months of because the merger LD1 happened on the 15th of April, so 2.5 months including Smartfren. I think we know that in the past, Smartfren was incurred loss. That's the reason why, quarter on quarter, our normalized PAT was reduced. If I look at the figures, the numbers actually quarter one, XL Axiata standalone is IDR 388 billion, reduced to IDR 313 billion. A reduction, a small reduction around IDR 60 billion, 75 billion, I think, mostly because of the Smartfren PAT. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Regarding the second question, as I was mentioning before, the number of subscribers of XL Axiata legacy will have increased slightly. The ARPU as well was practically positive. Again, we won't be releasing these numbers in the future, just for this time.
Thank you, Pak David. Sabrina, do you have any follow-up questions to us?
Hello, management. Thanks for the answers, but no follow-up questions from me. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. Let's now move to the following question from Indra Chahya from Mekuri. I think we have three questions. One, can you elaborate the optimal number of subscribers that XL Smart can serve in the medium to long term? Also, what is the considering potential spectrum return by 2026? Second, number of employees almost doubled post-merger. Any plan on a retirement scheme? I think this has already been addressed earlier. I think that's all the questions. I think let's jump in for maybe Pak David able to advise them.
Yeah. Difficult to estimate the optimal number of subscribers, right? Of course, you can see that our, let's say, market share of spectrum after the merger and our network infrastructure will increase, right, in the next few months. Again, I cannot elaborate on what is the ideal number of subscribers or market share. What I can estimate is like if our spectrum share and infrastructure share is higher, we can believe that a fair thing to say will be that our number of subscribers should also be higher than what we have today.
Yeah, I think the second part was related to this spectrum return, correct?
No.
I'm sorry. The second part of the question was about the spectrum return.
Yeah, considering that.
Did you address that? Okay. As you're saying, 900 MHz would be returned end of 2026, but we also know that there is a spectrum auction happening between now and that time. As I said, the way we are building our network is considering the spectrum roadmap, which the regulators and government have shared. I don't think spectrum would be a limitation to serve the ambitions which David and team have on the subscriber side, on the traffic side. Okay?
Thank you, Rajeev. Let's move on now to the next question from Norman from CLSA. There are two questions. Based on last year's historical numbers, there appear to be loss of subscriber and revenue after merge. Can I have more clarity on how would EBITDA margin trend in the second half of 2025? It was 43% in Q2 2025. Should we expect a bounce back to 47% normalized margin? Pak Antony?
Okay. Of course, we try to increase the EBITDA margin, but I think as per our Pak Rajeev already explained in the guidance, the EBITDA margin will be for this year, for the second half of 2025, will be low to mid-40%. I think that's our guidance. In terms of internally, of course, we try to reach above the more than 45%. Thank you.
Regarding the loss of subscribers, I think as I was explaining before, it's a change on the definition of subscriber that has been adopted, the former XL Axiata way of defining subscriber. If we take a look to our market share of subscribers in the market, we don't see that we have lost any market share or subscribers in that sense.
Hello? Can you hear me?
Hi, Norman. Do you have any follow-up question?
Yeah. Hi, management team. Thank you for the report. In terms of the revenue, I just wanted to get some clarity because in the second quarter, actually, your competitor also sees a revenue decline because of the starter pack cleanup, right? I just wanted to get your thought on how much is the impact from that in terms of quarter-to-quarter revenue drop. You know, combine that with the merger, it seems a bit confusing.
Hi, Norman. What else? If we take a look at the normalized subscribers and revenue, as I was saying, it has not been a decreasing quarter. It has been a slightly positive quarter. Now, going back to your point on the starter packs, yes, the situation, if I can define, the situation today is better than the situation when we were estimating a few months ago. Is it the ideal situation? Not yet. We have seen some movements in the last few weeks that are not ideal. In general, if we have to evaluate, we believe that it's better now than what it was a few months ago.
I see. Are you seeing your starter pack inventory fully cleaned up already, or are there still leftovers?
Sorry, we couldn't hear. Can you speak a little bit louder? What is the benefit of the problem?
No, I'm asking the 10,000 starter packs inventory. Is it fully cleaned up already?
No, no, no. I think the starter packs, all starter packs, I think they are still in the market. I think that's one thing that is there, and I believe that we will still remain for a while. To be honest, not the biggest problem in the sense that some additional bonuses that were given to those starter packs have been removed. In that sense, it's that part, it's a little bit more improved. The bad part is that we have seen many movements in the starter packs in the last few weeks, not from the old stock, but some new starter packs arriving. To your point, there are still old starter packs, yes, there are, but they have been taken out of a lot of bonuses, etc. In that sense, that old stock seems to be a little bit better controlled.
Okay. Thanks for answering my question. Thank you, Pak David. Thank you, Pak Antony.
Thank you, Norman. All right. Let's move on to the next question. I think we have the question from Ritvik Agrawal from JP Morgan, sorry, from Ramjan Sharma from JP Morgan. How is the CapEx refunded given the significant negative free cash flow? I think I'd like to invite Pak Antony on this.
Okay. For the CapEx, I know the amount is IDR 20 trillion, but actually, from the discussion with the vendors, there is a vendor CapEx equipment. We get like a soft payment terms from them. What is called the payment within this year will be not too much. We are actually quite okay. Meaning that for this year, the CapEx payment will be mostly funded through our operating cash flow. However, if let's say we need additional debt, then of course, we will talk to the bank. Of course, we're still trying to maintain our discipline in the capital structure in terms of the debt-to-EBITDA ratio. The answer will be either through operating cash flow as well as from the additional debt from the bank.
The amount is not going to be like IDR 20 trillion, but it's much less than that because there is a soft payment terms from the vendor. Thank you.
Thank you, Pak Antony. I'd like to open up the line for Pak Anjan if you have any follow-up questions to management.
Yes, thank you. I have a separate question. On the fixed broadband side, there's been a decline in customers. Can you help us understand what's happening there? Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks, Ranjan, for the question. I think for the fixed broadband side, you're absolutely right. We saw a decline in customers. I think that's a combination of probably two factors. One is competitive dynamics, but also internally, we're also relooking in terms of the quality of the subscribers. There's two parts that we're doing it. Looking ahead, certainly, we are trying to strengthen, right, further the sales execution. We will be also relooking at the portfolio and also expand, right, in certain areas. Having said that, in the longer term, we still see a very long-term growth trajectory, right, in this fixed broadband market, given the low household penetration and also rising broadband needs. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Ranjan. Now, let's move on to the next question from Jessica. What would be the sustainable long-term EBITDA margins target for XL Smart going forward? I think maybe Pak Antony can give some color for this one.
Okay. For this year, I think the EBITDA margin, as explained, that it will be low to mid-40% for this year. Of course, going forward, once the integration project is completed, we expect that the EBITDA margins can increase, coming back to maybe around 50%. We'll see that in the coming years, I think, yeah, for that and for the EBITDA margin. Thank you.
If I may just add a bit more color to that, Pak Antony.
Yes.
Just taking you back, pre-merger, XL EBITDA was around 50%, 51%. As we move forward on the mobile side, we'll want to beat that because that's where the benefits of synergies start accruing. We should be in a position to generate top line much more efficiently. The objective in the mid to long term would be on the mobile side, beat that number. Having said that, we also know that we have two other significant lines of businesses which we aim to grow fast in the future. One is home business. Home business comes with relatively lesser EBITDA, but also comes with a much lesser Capex. That's the second factor you need to consider, that these lines, because we are doing three different lines of business, the EBITDA expectations from each line of business would be different.
Similarly, for the enterprise side, as we move more and more into solutions, the EBITDA margins may be lower, but they come with very, very low or practically zero CapEx. The mix of the business will also evolve. I would believe that the profitability, the return on the investment, capital ROIC, would definitely keep on improving from where we are moving into the future.
Thank you, Rajeev, for clarifying. Now to open the line for Jessica, if you have any follow-up questions to us.
Nope. Thank you, Pak.
Okay. Thank you. There are two more questions. Let's move on to the next question from Kazuyuki Soma. Kazuyuki Soma, there are two questions. The first one is about the merger synergy guidance of $100 million- $200 million, and $300 million- $400 million is at OpEx level. The second one is, and when is that merger? Is that guided similar synergies in the form of OpEx and CapEx? What makes your synergy so significant? I believe this one can be addressed by Pak Antony. Pak Antony, do you want to address this?
Okay. I think a simple answer for Q1, yes, it is only related to OpEx. The synergy guidance that we are talking about is simply from the OpEx figures. For the second question about the Indosat merger, the similar synergy in the form of OpEx and CapEx, what makes synergy so significant? I think we understand that from Indosat, the process of the synergy, they take, I think, almost like three years, while in our case, we try to do it faster. We try to do it within two years, as a matter of fact, six quarters or eight quarters that we are trying to achieve. Of course, because of that process, quick integrations, we believe that will generate more synergy values to the company. I think that's the explanation. Thank you.
Thank you, Pak Antony. Kars, do you have any follow-up questions to us?
Thank you. Yeah, just to be clear, right, because it sounds like your synergies are a lot larger compared to the XL Axiata/Smartfren merger, right? They are saying similar synergy numbers, but that's for both CapEx savings and OpEx savings, right? What I hear you're saying is your OpEx savings is already as big as their guidance. That was exactly the same as $300 million - $400 million per year, right? I just really want to make sure if my understanding is really correct, because that's significant.
Yeah. I think for that one, maybe we need to clarify that the OpEx synergies were higher than Indosat. Maybe for me, it's because one of the biggest synergy safe values is coming from the tower lease, right, which is the ROU impact. I believe that the deal with the tower providers was quite different, the negotiations. While in Indosat, my understanding, it is like there is still a commitment that Indosat has to commit to the tower providers in order to replace the sites that are being dismantled. In our cases, we have a different deal with. Scale
learn from this, the deal of Indosat. We try not to follow the deals. We're creating a better deal. To answer that one, the tower lease is part of the synergy's values. I think similar, like Indosat. I believe that, but in terms of the substance of the deal, I believe we are better than Indosat.
Okay, understand. Thank you. Very helpful.
Thank you, Kas. Now, I'd like to move on to the next question from Aurelia from Indopremier. There are two questions. Is your EBITDA margin guidance of low to mid 40% normalized or not? I think let me, and then after that, the second one is on the expected depreciation, whether this is part of integration costs. I think I can help to answer that on behalf of the management. The EBITDA margin guidance is basically the reported, not normalized. On the section, expected depreciation is not part of integration costs. Now I'd like to open the line for Aurelia, if you have any follow-up questions to us.
Yes, thanks, Pak Kris, and hi management. I have another question regarding your subscribers' outlook, Pak. Basically, based on your presentation, there are 156 new areas open for Smartfren after the national roaming network integration. How should we see the potential subscribers' growth for Smartfren from here? Thank you.
I think I would like now to invite Pak David, to be able to advise. I think the question, maybe let me rephrase, on the growth from the 156 new areas. What is the potential growth for Smartfren's subscribers there?
As we have been mentioning, we have opened now the network for Smartfren subscribers to a bunch of new cities. The new population covered for Smartfren is significant. I'm not going to show here the numbers, but it's significant. Yes, we expect the Smartfren brand, which was limited in certain geographies, now to have a much more nationwide impact.
Thank you, Pak David. All right. Now, I think there are two more questions. I think this will be our questions. First one is from Tara from BNI Securitas. I think there is just one question. What is your target net gearing in the medium to long term in light of the higher CapEx spend? Maybe Pak Antony can help to address this.
Okay, thank you. Our gearing, which is the gross debt/EBITDA, at this moment, I think first quarter we reported around 3.6 x. Compared to the first quarter, it was 2.6 x higher this quarter because of the consolidation of Smartfren's debt and lease liabilities. I understand also that in the coming quarter, we anticipate a temporary increase in the gearing ratio as a result of the network integration activities. I think we remain committed to maintain the leverage below our debt covenant, which is 4.5 times. Thank you.
Thank you, Pak Antony. Bhutara, do you have any follow-up questions for us?
No, thank you. Enough from me. Thank you.
Sorry, can you? No question. Okay, thank you, Bu. All right, let's move on now to the final question from Andreas Yantaro. In regards to the optimizing spectrum utilization under the current larger network scale, can you elaborate it? How more and on how XL Axiata is going to achieve this?
Achieve what?
Maybe this is to achieve the spectrum utilization.
I think we are in a pretty unique position now. With the merger, the spectrum holding which we have is much stronger, right from a low band to a mid band. Obviously, in the future, we'll also acquire the higher frequencies as and when the auctions come in. We are in a pretty strong position now as far as our spectrum holding is concerned. As I said, when we are modernizing our network, we are ensuring that we are able to leverage the entire spectrum holding we have in the places where it's required. We are not just integrating the network. We are making networks ready to be able to use the current spectrums which we have and also any additional spectrum which we may acquire as per the roadmap of Comdijay. This requires significantly more effort on the radio planning side.
I think that's a skill set that will become even more important, both internally and also with our partners. What we have demonstrated in the initial few sites, a few thousand sites where we've deployed the entire spectrum, is that we are able to do that well. We are able to give a much better customer experience utilizing this entire enhanced spectrum portfolio which we have. We see this as a significant opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves in the market, and we are very excited about this. In case there's any further follow-up question, we can definitely answer this.
Thank you, Pak, Rajeev. I think I hope that gives some color about this spectrum utilization. Andreas, do you have any follow-up questions for us?
Yes, thank you. Does it mean you need to acquire more subscribers to optimize your spectrum utilization? Does it mean?
If you look at Indonesia, the current consumption of data per subscriber is much lower than the neighboring markets. It's between 16, 17, 18 Gbps here. In neighboring markets, it's gone up to close to 30 Gbps . For me, more of the utilization or more of the traffic for the spectrum will come from existing customers because of the per customer increase in consumption. Add to that 5G, as and when it is launched in the market, that will also drive traffic. It will not necessarily come from new subscribers, but it will largely come from existing subscribers, increased demand, both naturally and as and when 5G is launched.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you, Andreas. Since we are running out of time and I know that we still have one question, I would like to address that offline. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our today's conference call. Thank you again for joining us today. If you have follow-up questions, please reach out to Investor Relations. I wish you stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter. Thank you.