Indosat, the Indonesian telco and a member of Ooredoo Group, has formed a joint venture with ad tech firm Smaato to create a real-time bidding ad exchange, in a bid to tap Indonesia’s booming digital media market, which is estimated to hit $20 billion in 2018.
The JV, called Indonesia Mobile Exchange (IMX), is intended to facilitate a portal that enables both local and global advertisers to connect with leading publishers in Indonesia and provide targeted programmatic advertising to Indonesian consumers.
IMX will be supported by Indosat's Digital Services Unit, which also focuses on mobile commerce and mobile payment solutions. Indosat’s existing mobile advertising offering, i-klan, which currently sits within its Digital Services unit, will become part of the JV as a result, the operator said.
IMX will also leverage Indosat’s reach in Indonesia through its 55 million mobile customers, Indosat’s business customers, and the global reach of Smaato’s mobile exchange.
“Digital advertising represents an important avenue of new business as we look for opportunities beyond our core services to support our customers’ digital lifestyles,” said Dr Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo.
“Currently 25% of our customers actively use mobile content services and Indosat’s partnership with a leading global player like Smaato helps us to build products and capabilities that better serve both business customers and consumers alike. As smartphone use across our footprint increases we intend to extend this approach to the other markets that we operate in.”
Commenting on the partnership, Alexander Rusli, Indosat’s president director and CEO said the JV will help businesses improve online reach and provides customers with more targeted and personal mobile ads.
In a separate announcement, Indosat said it has teamed up with Ericsson to launch a cloud-based M2M platform in Indonesia.
The company is the first member of Ooredoo Group to launch the Ericsson Device Connection Platform, with Qatar, Algeria and Tunisia scheduled to follow this year.
Dr Nasser Marafih, Group CEO of Ooredoo said the launch is the first in a series of group-wide innovations that aim to deliver better results for businesses.
“The platform will play a key role in speeding up the implementation of smart city technologies, supporting our customer’s Connected Lives and helping develop smarter economies, smarter infrastructure, smarter environments and smarter governance in the markets that we operate,” he said in a statement.
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