Indosat gets 1 million new subscribers as of April<\/p>\n
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The country's second largest telecommunications firm PT Indosat
\nhas sailed forward to reach its target for new mobile phone
\nsubscribers by attracting more than one million additional
\ncustomers in the first four months of the year.<\/p>\n
Ninety percent of the new customers opted for its IM3 service,
\nIndosat cellular marketing director Hasnul Suhaimi said on the
\nsidelines of an event to mark IM3's achievement in reaching its
\nthree-millionth subscriber on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"Sales in the first quarter were not good, but in April sales
\nsped up,\" said Hasnul.<\/p>\n
Indosat, which has three cellular brands -- IM3, Matrix and
\nMentari -- attracted only 434,000 new customers in the first
\nthree months of 2005.<\/p>\n
In April, however, the company attracted more than 600,000 new
\ncustomers, said Hasnul.<\/p>\n
\"(Up to April) we got about 1.05 million new customers in
\ntotal,\" he said.<\/p>\n
As of the end of last year, there were 9.7 million people
\nusing Indosat's cellular services.<\/p>\n
The company holds about 30 percent of the country's cellular
\nmarket and targets to get between three million and four million
\nnew customers this year.<\/p>\n
Viewing the jump in IM3's customer base, which grew almost 50
\npercent from 2.09 million customers at the end of 2004 to three
\nmillion in April, Hasnul was optimistic that the service would
\nbreak into its five-millionth customer this year.<\/p>\n
Despite a surge in IM3 customers, he said the company would
\nnot revise Indosat's total customer target and would not provide
\nadditional capital expenditure to accommodate the demand.<\/p>\n
\"Our present capital expenditure allocation can accommodate up
\nto five million new subscribers,\" said Hasnul.<\/p>\n
Indosat plans to spend $900 million this year, of which 80
\npercent will be used to expand its cellular businesses. It plans
\nto reach all regental capitals, even in the far corners of the
\narchipelago, by the end of this year with 2,000 additional base
\ntransmission stations (BTS).<\/p>\n
Hasnul said the company was maintaining its plan to issue
\nbonds this year to fund the expansion, despite the current
\nunfavorable bonds market.<\/p>\n
He declined to give specifics.<\/p>\n
The bonds would be issued in the year's first semester, he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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