Indosat cuts call tariffs but expects more income<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The publicly listed PT Indosat, the state-owned
\ninternational telecommunications provider, expects its net profit
\nto increase by between 12 percent and 14 percent this year
\ndespite cutting its call tariffs yesterday.<\/p>\n
The firm announced yesterday it was cutting its tariffs on
\ninternational calls to 209 countries by between 1.1 percent and
\n38.5 percent. It also announced it was increasing tariffs to 21
\ncountries by between 9.6 percent and 25.3 percent.<\/p>\n
Countries to which call charges were lowered include
\nAustralia, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, the Philippines,
\nThailand, Saudi Arabia and the United States.<\/p>\n
China, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore are among the 21
\ncountries to which tariffs have risen.<\/p>\n
The increased telephone charges to Singapore, for example,
\nwere introduced to compensate the government's policy of
\ncontinuous depreciation of the rupiah.<\/p>\n
\"The increase is also important for meeting the higher tariffs
\nfrom Singapore to Indonesia,\" the company said.<\/p>\n
Singapore Telecom's (Singtel) new rates include a 5-Singapore
\ncent reduction on calls to Indonesia, down to S$1.75 a minute.
\nThe new rate, it said, was equal to Rp 2,958.61 a minute, or 13.8
\npercent higher than Indosat's rate of Rp 2,600 a minute to
\nSingapore.<\/p>\n
Singapore's new weekend rate is S$1.3, down 30 cents. The new
\nrate, equal to Rp 2,192, is 12.4 percent higher than Indosat's
\nrate of Rp 1,950 a minute to Singapore.<\/p>\n
Indosat said it and Singtel had agreed to reduce their
\naccounting rate to Gold France Currency (GFC) 2.40 a minute next
\nFebruary from the present rate of GFC2.60.<\/p>\n
The accounting rate reduction would let Indosat save 7.6
\npercent on its payments to Singtel.<\/p>\n
Indosat president Tjahono Soerjodibroto said the rate increase
\nwould not significantly raise the firm's profit growth rate.<\/p>\n
\"The increase in telephone charges will not have any impact on
\nour profit target as we expect the traffic volume to increase
\nsignificantly ,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the first semester of 1996, the firm recorded a pretax
\nprofit of Rp 235.1 billion (US$100.4 million), up 6.42 percent on
\nthe corresponding period of 1995.<\/p>\n
He said PT Indosat, which was listed both in New York and on
\nthe Jakarta Stock Exchange in October 1994, would not be affected
\nby the downward trend in international accounting rates and
\nincreasing competition.<\/p>\n
Tjahjono said the firm would install and operate a submarine
\nfiber-optic network connecting Jakarta and Surabaya, and join the
\nAsia Pacific Cable Network which will connect Jakarta with other
\nAsia-Pacific countries. The Jakarta-Australia submarine fiber-
\noptic network will connect Jakarta with Surabaya and Jakarta with
\nAustralia. The SEAMEWE III network will connect Indonesia with
\nthe global information toll in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and
\nwestern European countries.<\/p>\n
For its expansion plans in 1997, Indosat will allocate about
\nRp 490 billion (US$207.6 billion) for its national, regional and
\ninternational business. (09)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indosat-cuts-call-tariffs-but-expects-more-income-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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