How Telkomsel and Circles Delivered a Live SaaS Migration at Scale

Why It Matters

The migration proves that large telcos can adopt agile SaaS architectures without service interruption, accelerating digital revenue streams and setting a benchmark for industry‑wide modernization.

Key Takeaways

• Millions migrated to SaaS with zero downtime
• Partnership with Circles enabled rapid cloud adoption
• Risk management ensured business continuity
• Brownfield approach balanced legacy stability and innovation
• Scalable model offers roadmap for other telcos

Pulse Analysis

The Indonesian telecom market is undergoing a rapid digital shift, and Telkomsel’s by.U brand is at the forefront. By moving its core customer‑facing systems to a cloud‑native SaaS stack, the operator reduces infrastructure overhead and gains the flexibility to launch new services instantly. This migration aligns with broader trends where telcos are shedding monolithic legacy platforms in favor of modular, API‑driven architectures that can scale with subscriber growth.

Execution hinged on a deep partnership between Telkomsel’s internal teams and Circles, a specialist in cloud migration. Together they designed a phased rollout that duplicated data streams, performed real‑time validation, and employed automated fail‑over mechanisms. Rigorous risk assessments and continuous monitoring allowed the migration to proceed without a single minute of service loss, a critical achievement given the brand’s millions of active users. The technical playbook emphasized containerisation, micro‑services, and observability tools to maintain performance parity throughout the transition.

For the telecom industry, this case study signals that large‑scale SaaS migrations are no longer theoretical. Operators can now pursue agility, faster time‑to‑market, and cost efficiencies while safeguarding the customer experience. The success of Telkomsel’s brownfield transformation provides a replicable framework for peers seeking to modernise legacy assets, highlighting the strategic value of cloud partnerships and disciplined risk governance. As competition intensifies, such capabilities will become essential differentiators in the race for digital revenue.

Original Description

This interview explores Telkomsel’s digital transformation of its by.U brand, one of Indonesia’s leading digital telco brands. Joyce Shia (Telkomsel) and Kannan Alagappan (Circles) discuss the challenges and execution of migrating millions of customers to a next-generation SaaS platform, all while ensuring zero downtime and business continuity. The conversation covers the importance of partnership, risk management, and the technical and operational aspects of brownfield transformation. The project demonstrates how established operators can modernise at scale, balancing stability with the need for agility and innovation.

Featuring:

- Joyce Shia, Chief Information Officer, Telkomsel (by.U)

- Kannan Alagappan, Chief Technology Officer, Circles

Recorded March 2026

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