Telkom, Indosat see big profits in the ballot boxes<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and PT Indonesian
\nSatellite Corp. (Indosat), the country's major telecommunications
\nfirms, estimate a jump in revenue during this election year due
\nmostly to a sharp increase in the use of cellular services.<\/p>\n
Telkom chief executive officer (CEO) Kristiono said on Monday
\nthat Telkom was projecting its revenue to grow by at least 20
\npercent this year, supported mostly by the company's cellular
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
\"The general election this year will drive the use of cellular
\nservices even higher than in previous years. People will increase
\ntheir use of cellular phones to inform others about developments
\nduring electoral events,\" said Kristiono.<\/p>\n
Kristiono expected the number of the company's cellular
\nsubscribers this year to increase by between 40 percent and 50
\npercent from 9.2 million in 2003.<\/p>\n
Revenue from the cellular business, which is run by Telkom
\nsubsidiary PT Telekomunikasi Seluler Indonesia (Telkomsel),
\ncontributed more than 50 percent of Telkom's total revenue last
\nyear, which is estimated to have reached around Rp 23 trillion
\n(US$2.73 billion).<\/p>\n
Telkom's cellular business accounted for 54 percent of the
\ntotal market share last year.<\/p>\n
Analysts had earlier said that the telecommunications
\nbusiness, along with the retail and media sectors, would yield
\nhefty earnings this year due to the unorthodox campaign methods
\nemployed by political parties here.<\/p>\n
They said that party workers would be increasingly reliant on
\ncellular phones to assemble supporters or to inform others about
\ndevelopments during electoral events.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Indosat, Telkom's archrival in the
\ntelecommunications industry, also said that it estimated its
\nrevenue for this year would grow by 25 percent, also mostly on
\nthe back of higher revenue from its cellular business.<\/p>\n
Indosat CEO Widya Purnama said that the company was expecting
\nrevenue of Rp 10 trillion this year compared to around Rp 8
\ntrillion last year.<\/p>\n
He also said that the number of Indosat cellular subscribers
\nwas estimated to surge by 42 percent to 8.5 million from the
\naround 6 million projected for last year.<\/p>\n
\"We are hoping that election campaign this year will help
\nboost the demand for our cellular services,\" said Widya.<\/p>\n
Recently, Indosat successfully completed a reorganization of
\nits cellular business which resulted in the merger of its two
\ncellular subsidiaries, PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo)
\nand PT Indosat Mobile Multi Media (IM3).<\/p>\n
The merger is aimed at helping Indosat to catch up with Telkom
\nin netting cellular subscribers.<\/p>\n
To support this objective, the company also plans to spend
\naround $580 million on capital expenditure this year, with a most
\nof the money being used to develop its cellular business.<\/p>\n
Satelindo had a market share of 31 percent of the country's
\ncellular market last year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/telkom-indosat-see-big-profits-in-the-ballot-boxes-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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