Today, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the PT Indosat Tbk first half 2022 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star one one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'll now like to hand the call over to your host today, Indar Dhaliwal. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Desmond. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the call. My name is Indar, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations for the company. As a reminder, the call today is being recorded for replay purposes. With us on the call today is Vikram Sinha, our CEO, and Nicky Lee, our CFO. I will now hand the call over to Vikram for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Thanks, Indar. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Allow me to start this earnings call with a few remarks before handing it over to our CFO, Nicky, for the financial presentation. I am pleased to report a good performance for IOH in second quarter 2022. All financials and operational indicators are trending positively despite challenging market conditions, which is a very positive and good sign for us. Our foundation was laid in January, in fact, 4th January 2022, and as we speak today, we are a 206 days young company. The initial journey has been quite encouraging for IOH, and we stay committed to give marvelous customer experience. Our number one focus is delivering the customer experience which we have committed to all our customers.
As you can see from the numbers we have reported, which our CFO will go into more detail, our revenue grew strongly by over 7% quarter-on-quarter, and EBITDA grew faster than revenue at around close to 9.5% quarter-on-quarter. We also delivered a positive net profit in quarter two. Importantly. The most important thing, our subscriber continues to grow, having added 1.6 million new subscriber in quarter two, which proves that customer trust on brand IOH is growing every day. Healthy ARPU growth of 9.2% quarter-on-quarter has helped IOH to gain revenue. Our integration continues to progress very well, and we have hit 46% of our milestone, which we have outlined in our plan. We have also realized synergy ahead of our target through relentless execution.
Network is the biggest driver for synergy, and we are tracking well ahead versus our target. MOCN, this is something, the technology which we spoke about for integration. The activation in progress is progressing well while our partners, Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia, are fully committed at the highest level and completely onboarded to support our integration and participating in our growth journey. We are clear on our future priorities as well. We'll continue to execute and deliver on our promises to create value for our shareholders. That concludes my opening remarks. I would like to pass it on to our CFO, Nicky Lee, for the financial walk through. Over to you, Nicky.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. This is Nicky Lee speaking. I'm going to present our financial section of the presentation. I'm actually very delighted to present our stellar financial performance of second quarter 2022. Our overall revenue grew 7.2% quarter-over-quarter from IDR 10.9 trillion to IDR 11.7 trillion. This growth was underpinned by the enlarged customer base, as mentioned by Vikram, as well as strong uptick of data services, particularly over the Ramadan festive season. You can also see in our detailed slides that cellular was leading the charge in Q2, as media and fixed telecoms revenue remain stable after a very strong first quarter. In terms of EBITDA, it is up by 9.5% to IDR 4.8 trillion from IDR 4.4 trillion in first quarter.
The EBITDA growth is revenue driven and has included extra provision for Jiwasraya provision of IDR 80 billion in second quarter. If such provision is excluded, as it is not related to our second quarter performance, the quarter-on-quarter improvement for EBITDA would amount to 11%. EBITDA margin improved by 90 basis points. Reflecting higher margin contribution from Cellular and our efforts to keep costs contained. We completed the formation of our data center joint venture with BDx. This transaction has not only created huge business value for us, but it also generated a gain after tax of around IDR 3 trillion. This has catapulted our net profit attributable to owners to IDR 3.1 trillion, compared to IDR 129 million in the first quarter.
The data center transaction also greatly enhanced our net debt position as it provided us with cash proceeds of around IDR 2.7 trillion. This, along with our strong operating cash flow, has managed to bring net debt to EBITDA significantly down from 1.13x to just 0.85x. There were a few one-off adjustments in both first and second quarters. We have prepared normalized analysis to enable you to understand the underlying net profit performance. You can see that from our normalized net profit. For first half, it was IDR 149 billion in total. If you look at the first quarter and second quarter split, the contribution from second quarter is IDR 105 billion, more than double quarter one.
We have the key financial indicators in the next slide for first half this year against the same period last year as well as the second quarter against the first quarter. As we just focus on quarter-on-quarter numbers, I will briefly take you through the year-on-year number for first half 2022. In terms of revenue, the incremental revenue of 50.3%, reflecting largely the impact of the merger. Similarly, the merger also pushed the EBITDA upwards by 35.4% from IDR 6.8 trillion to IDR 9.2 trillion, despite the dilution of EBITDA by 4.5 percentage points to 40.7%. Our net profit book reduced year-on-year, basically reflecting the movement in one-off transaction.
In the first half of last year, we had tower sale transaction, giving us a gain of IDR 6 trillion. This year we had the data center JV formation, as I mentioned earlier. While these gains are not recurring in itself, we do and will continue to look for ways to improve shareholders value. Looking at the performance of our individual business segments, all of them are performing very well. Cellular attained 8.5% quarter-on-quarter growth, while MIDI and fixed telecom revenue growth for first half was 14% and 31% over that of 2021. There was some contribution from merger on these two segments, but the Tri brand contribution is relatively small in these two segments. Moving on to costs.
Our costs have escalated on a year-on-year comparison first half against first half, 2022 against 2021 due to the merger. We are confident the merger process we are going through will help us to cut some of the OpEx we are spending. If you look at our cost of services on a quarter-on-quarter basis, they pretty much stay at the same level despite the significant revenue growth we are seeing as reported earlier by Vikram and in my earlier slides. Personnel costs is up by IDR 315 billion. This is to do with some adjustments. There was a IDR 70 billion reversal in retirement provision in the first quarter, following release of a new accounting requirement. Another adjustment relates to IDR 80 billion extra provision for Jiwasraya restructuring.
We also made some bonus provision as we got a pretty good number for the first half. There's also some seasonality spending on marketing. It's up in second quarter because of the Ramadan festive spending that we used to do for every Ramadan. It is budgeted in our plan. As you can see, if we exclude the effects of seasonality and non-recurring adjustments, our costs are actually very well controlled. The other adjustment on this slide relates to the IDR 3.6 trillion gain for the data center transaction, and this is before tax. I referred to the same transaction earlier, and this gain is captured under other operating income expenses.
In terms of CapEx, our first half capitalizations stood at IDR 3.9 trillion, which is 31.5% more than the same period last year. For the second quarter, it was a bit subdued, with booking amount of IDR 1.6 trillion, down 34% from Q1. This is more just a timing difference as we expect capitalization to go up in the second half of the year. The CapEx to revenue ratios for both first half and second quarter fell when compared to last year or last quarter due to enlarged scale this year, as well as lower spending in second quarter. Once again, this is more a timing issue. Our net-net debt has been going up and down. Let me spend a minute to remind you guys what happened. The four point
The IDR 4.4 trillion at first half last year was reduced following the tower sale transaction in first quarter, before the payment of dividend prior to the merger. Following these, net debt was up to IDR 16.8 trillion at end of first quarter this year, but we managed to trim it by almost IDR 3 trillion after the data center transaction was consummated in second quarter. With these net debt movements, you see the corresponding changes in our net debt to EBITDA ratio to come down to just 0.85 times at end of second quarter. That is the end of the financial section presentation for me. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Nicky. Allow me to share some operational highlights before we move on to Q&A session. As you can see, our operational metrics are trending in the right direction across all numbers. We have added 1.6 million mobile customers in Q2. Importantly, these are high quality customers, and we can see them from the number of 4G customers which we have added and the growth on ARPU quarter-on-quarter. Both our brands continue to do well and are performing well within their target segment. This is a great advantage which we see both brands, IM3 and Tri, having a very distinct target segment and both doing very well on that. I would like to highlight that brand IM3 NPS has increased again this quarter and now is the highest NPS among the big four operators in Indonesia.
The IM3 NPS also continue to increase this quarter, which is evidence of the strong traction that we are getting in the market. Our network rollout continue to be on track, and our 4G BTS now is 124,000 across Indonesia. This quarter, we also launched BDx Indonesia, which is a joint venture between IOH and BDx, one of the leading provider of data center worldwide. This venture will create new hyperscale focused data center company that will help to empower Indonesia digital transformation vision. Finally, as we continue our existing journey as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, I would like to thank our loyal customers and shareholders for their ongoing support, which has helped us deliver a strong set of numbers this quarter.
We remain committed to provide marvelous customer experience to our customer, to our partners, and also to our employee, so that they can enjoy being part of this journey, and also to our customers who can enjoy our digital product and services in our network. Thank you, everyone, and let's proceed to Q&A session.
Thank you, everyone. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Arthur Pineda from Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Three questions, please. Firstly, with regards to mobile competition, just wanted to get your thoughts on how this will fare into the second half. Do you think that the sector can continue to see price increases into the second half of this year? Second question I had is with regards to your expectations on costs, particularly on the upcoming 2000 family towers expiring with the contract on Tower Bersama. Is there room for you to significantly reduce your network expenses into the second half as this expires? Any idea in terms of how this cost on these will change? Third question I had is with regard to labor expenses. That's obviously jumped a lot, 44%.
You mentioned there's some one-off in terms of these items, but even if you take out severance and the reversal, it seems to be up by more than 20% quarter-over-quarter. How should we see this as trending into the second half? Sorry. Thank you very much.
Okay, this is Vikram. Let me take your first and second question, then I'll request-
Needs to be up by 20% quarter-over-quarter. How should we see this trending into the second half? Thank you.
Yeah. Hi, this is Vikram. Let me take the first and second question, and then I will request Nicky to take on employee, we don't call it labor, so, that is important to highlight on the employee cost. On mobile competition, I think we see a more healthy trend at an industry level, a more mature outlook. I've highlighted earlier also the current level of yield is not sustainable, and our customer is demanding for more, you know, better customer experience and value for money. We are very supportive of that journey, and we think we see only things improving at an industry level also. This is a very positive news. If you look at our ARPU increase and all, in spite of 1.6 million addition in customers, our ARPU went up by more than 9%.
We see this as a very healthy trend. Second, on your cost, especially related to Tower Bersama 2,500 sites renewal, we just concluded our negotiation in quarter two with them. Happy to share with all of you that it was a very, very good outcome. We see strong support from our partners and our tower companies for IOH. It has been one of the good conclusion. As you know that, you know, these were all 2010 or 2012 deal which was on US dollar term, and we were paying quite high. We have been able to conclude with very good outcome for us and at the same time it has been a good outcome for Tower Bersama also because they are all supporting and they are banking on our growth opportunity.
Specific numbers you will see in the coming quarter. I don't want to get into detail, but it is important for me to highlight that it was a six months long negotiation and the outcome we are very happy with. More important, the partner continued to believe in our growth and support us. In a way it supports them also because it is good for everyone. Nicky, if you can take the question on employee cost.
On the personnel cost, as I mentioned, by and large about half of the increment is to do with one-off, and the other half is to do with bonus provision, basically incentives based off the good performance the company has delivered. When we made this extra provision, we have to cover the entire first half, not just the second quarter. What you're looking at is if you strip out the one-off, half of it would be the like incremental charge we put in when you compare first and the second quarter. Now going into the second half, if we are required to make extra provision, that would mean we are outperforming again, and this is a good thing for the company.
I hope that we will be able to give more such incentives to the staff based off their good performance.
Understood. Thank you very much.
Just to build on what Nicky said, Arthur, you know, we want to build IOH on pay for performance. Looking at our H1 performance, you know, we have increased our bonus provision and all. That is what it is.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you for the question. Next question comes from the line of Joshua Arief from UBS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good afternoon, and thanks for the call. Just one question from me. As part of the merger deal, IOH has committed to around 11,400 sites to be rolled out. Just want to get your update on that site, how it is progressing and what are the milestones to watch for. Maybe one more question is on the upcoming spectrum auction. Any color on that side of which spectrums are up for allocation and the timeline on that? Thank you very much.
Hi, this is Vikram. On your first question, yes. You know, as part of our merger, we had spoken about these numbers. We are completely on track, you know, to deliver that. The good thing is, you know, with all these things together, you know, we are trending that by next year, both the brand, after removing duplicate sites also will have the benefit of close to 50,000 physical sites. That will have everything integrated in terms of using all the spectrum, 900 sites, 1,800 sites 2,100 sites. We are completely on track to deliver our commitment.
What you need to watch out for is, you know, I think as part of that commitment, we have committed close to 4,000-5,000 sites every year, and we'll be able to deliver that. Coming on to spectrum, I think we are waiting for more clarity to come from the regulatory authorities. We believe that next year we expect to see 3.5 MHz, which is more 5G suitable spectrum. We are getting ready for that. In terms of exact time and all, we will wait for the clarity from the government authorities. 700 sites, we believe that it will be after 2024. We feel that first it will be 3.5 MHz.
Understood. Thanks, Vikram. Maybe just one more question and congratulations on the tower sale renegotiation. Just to confirm, like, what lease rate you are removing or, you know, co-locating on new towers? Any color on this side?
Sometimes I get confused whether it is a tower analyst call or it is Indus Towers. Look, I think what I told you know, we had a very good outcome with our tower partners. More detail, you know, you will have to wait for another quarter, you know, in terms of specific. For sure, you know, we are very encouraged to see how initially we saw it from the RAN partner, the way Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei supported us, and the same trend we see from the tower partners now. The outcome has been very win-win for both of us.
Understood. Thank you very much. Thanks, Vikram Sinha.
Thank you for the questions. As a reminder, to ask question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. Once again, to ask question, please press star one one. Our next question comes from the line of Foong Choong Chen from CIMB. Please go ahead.
Hi, Fung. Are you there? We can't hear you.
Can you hear me now?
Yes. Now it's a bit better. Could you speak up a bit as well?
Okay. I think I'm closer to the mic. Yeah. Two questions from me. Firstly, on progress.
Fung, the line's a bit unclear on your end. I'm not sure what the problem is.
Okay. Yeah. Maybe it's my microphone. Can you hear me properly?
Yes. Now it's okay.
Okay. I'll try to speak clearly and slowly.
Okay.
Okay. First question, with regards to the integration progress, it was mentioned during the presentation by Vikram Sinha that it's well ahead of the target and timeline. I wanted to get you know, maybe is there an updated guidance you know on the amount of synergies, the run rate synergies and perhaps you know, could this be achieved earlier than the previous guidance of three to five years down the road? That's question number one. Second question, with regards to you know, the pricing increases that were carried out by the players in the market. I hear you that the environment is very healthy at the moment.
Do you see any signs of resistance from consumers or even regulators to what has been, you know, price increases so far, you know, through this year? That's question number two. Question number three on the DC sales to BDx. What are you going to be doing with the cash proceeds? And if you could also share what would be the cost to lease back the data center from BDx? Yeah, those are my questions. Thank you. Yeah. Let me start with the you know, the whole integration and the recurring benefits. I think to remind all of us, we said that, you know, we are expecting $300 million-$400 million operating synergy in three to five years.
Against that, after six months, we feel more confident on the higher side, you know. We feel more confident that we are trending towards $400 million. In terms of timeline, we feel more confident that it will be around three, 3.5 years, maximum four years. It has been very encouraging, you know. The important point to note here is, you know, we are talking about integrating close to 45,000 sites, which also means eliminating close to 17,000 duplicate sites. The earlier plan was to do it in 24 months. Now we are trending towards completing it in 12 months. We have got immense support from our partners, you know, and all these things is what giving us more confidence of completing it faster and also closing it on the higher side.
Coming on to the price, what is important to note is, one, that you know, we have all seen the important role companies like Indosat and overall telecom sector plays post-COVID. Customer behavior is also changing. You know, instead of looking for cheap products, they are looking for value for money and good customer experience. that has what our focus has been. we are very happy to see that industry is also moving in that direction. We don't see that also changing, you know. Instead of looking for cheap products, they are looking for value for money and good customer experience. that has what our focus has been. we are very happy to see that industry is also moving in that direction.
We don't see that it has been a steep hike, you know. I don't know how you read those things, but it is more, you know, in terms of making sure that we are delivering value. Still the current yield level in Indonesia is on the bottom two, three countries, if you look at in the region or worldwide also. I think overall, it is all moving in the right direction. Coming on to BDx, you know, we are internally assessing the use of what we want to do, whether we want to give some interim dividend or annual dividend still or we want to do something else. We are in the process of assessing that.
More important to highlight is this is a very strategic partnership for us, and we start seeing some great value, how this partnership also bring in to our B2B business and also to Lintasarta.
Is that clear, Fung? Any follow-ups? Sorry, your line has gone muffled again, Fung. You may be using AirPods or something.
How much will it cost? No, I'm speaking right to the computer microphone. How much will it cost to lease back the data center from BDx?
We'll get back to you on that after this call, Chen. We don't have the numbers on hand. We'll just speak to you after the call, yeah?
Okay. Sure. Thank you so much.
Thank you for the question.
Thank you.
As a reminder, to ask question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone.
Okay, everyone. We don't have any hands raised currently, but we still have about 30 minutes left in the call, so we're gonna pause here for two minutes. If anybody wants to ask a question, please feel free to do so. Operator, just wanna check, do we have any questions in the queue?
At this time we do not have any more questions. Please continue.
Okay. I guess, we'll close the call then here as there are no more questions. Thank you everyone for your participation in the call today. As always, if you need further information, don't hesitate to reach out and, if not, stay safe, stay healthy. We'll speak to you next quarter. Goodbye, everyone.
Thank you, management. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.