Excelcomindo to issue bond for expansion, 3G<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The country's third-largest cellular firm PT Excelcomindo Pratama
\nwill issue U.S. dollar-denominated bonds worth US$250 million, as
\npart of its planned $400 million of new debts before mid next
\nyear, in a bid to widen its services.<\/p>\n
"We will issue $250 million worth of bonds before mid 2006,
\nwhile the rest (of the finance) will come from syndicated loans
\nor other credit facilities," Excelcomindo president director
\nRudiantara said on Friday after the company's extraordinary
\nmeeting of shareholders.<\/p>\n
Financial director Jaffa Sani explained that the bonds would
\nmature in seven years after the issuance date with a coupon rate
\nof 8 percent.<\/p>\n
At present, the company's debt stands at $420 million, of
\nwhich $350 million is in the form of bonds and the remaining $70
\nmillion floating rate notes.<\/p>\n
Jaffa said the floating rate notes would be shifted to bonds,
\nbringing the total amount in bonds to $670 million.<\/p>\n
JP Morgan, Malaysian CIMB and UBS will act as the company's
\nadvisors.<\/p>\n
With some 5.9 million cellular phone subscribers, Excelcomindo
\nis aiming at expanding its fiber optic network to provide more
\ncoverage. The new network will span from Batam island to Malaysia
\nor Singapore.<\/p>\n
The company, partly owned by Malaysian Khazanah Nasional Bhd.,
\nplans to set up some 2,000 more base transceiver stations next
\nyear and to focus its network expansion in Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Jaffa said his company would allocate $40 million for the
\nplanned re-tender of the third generation (3G) frequency. "But,
\nthe cost is very likely to be more than that."<\/p>\n
There is still 60 Mega Hertz (MHz) of the 1,900 frequency
\nspectrum to be reallocated for the use of triple play
\ncommunication services: Audio, video and data transmissions.<\/p>\n
The re-tender has been delayed from last month's schedule due
\nto several technical aspects that had to be dealt with. Among
\nthem is th clearing of the frequency spectrum of current users.<\/p>\n
"We are trying to be more prudent in the re-tender to avoid
\nmisallocation like we had in the past," Ministry of
\nCommunications and Information's director general for post and
\ntelecommunications Basuki Yusuf Iskandar said.<\/p>\n
Excelcomindo launched a trial of its 3G services in October.
\nIt was the second cellular operator to launch such services after
\nIndonesia's largest cellular-phone company PT Telkomsel.<\/p>\n
Telkomsel and Excelcomindo have each received a 5 MHz
\nfrequency bandwidth slot to run their 3G-services trials.<\/p>\n
Current license holders for the spectrum are PT Cyber Access
\nCommunications (CAC) with 15 MHz and PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler
\n(NTS) with 10 MHz. However, both companies have yet to operate
\nthe services since the government granted the licenses in 2003.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/excelcomindo-to-issue-bond-for-expansion-3g-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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