"India and Indonesia can shape the AI era together"

Vikram Sinha, President, Director, and CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, leads one of Southeast Asia’s most ambitious telecom transformations. Since taking charge of Indosat in 2017, he has led a remarkable turnaround— steering the company from losses to consistent doubledigit growth—and orchestrated a high-impact merger with Hutchison 3 Indonesia that has become a global benchmark for telecom consolidation.

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In this exclusive conversation with Voice&Data Editor Shubhendu Parth, he shares how Indosat is embedding Al across its operations, building sovereign Al infrastructure through Sahabat.ai, and accelerating its transformation into a techco. He also discusses the potential of india— Indonesia collaboration to drive the next wave of digital innovation. Excerpts:

India and Indonesia are emerging as digital powerhouses with thriving tech ecosystems. What are the most promising areas of collaboration between two countries?

I was honoured to be with the President of Indonesia during the Republic Day celebrations in India on 26 January. Having grown up in India and spent the last six years in Indonesia, I see immense collaboration opportunities between the two nations, especially in Artificial Intelligence (Al). India and Indonesia can shape the Al era together and positively impact nearly 1.7 billion people.

Two things stand out. First, Indonesia's consumer profile and digital behaviour are similar to India’s. Both markets have sub-USD 3 ARPU, a young, digitalsavvy population, and an enormous reliance on digital infrastructure. Second, there is a clear opportunity for collaboration in sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture. These are challenges both countries are looking to solve. And a lot of what has worked in India— like Aadhaar and direct benefit transfers—can work in Indonesia. Technology becomes an enabler for inclusion and progress when implemented at scale.

Any outcomes or tie-ups from your recent visit to Delhi?

Indonesia and India have strengthened their strategic partnership to accelerate digital transformation and promote innovations that benefit their citizens. During the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.