Telkom profit jumps 11%<\/p>\n
Dow Jones, Jakarta<\/p>\n
PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) said on Wednesday its
\nfirst quarter net profit jumped 11 percent on year, thanks to
\nhigher revenue from its cellular unit and from fixed-phone
\noperations.<\/p>\n
Telkom's net profit rose to Rp 1.660 trillion (US$191 million)
\nfrom Rp 1.499 trillion, beating analyst forecasts of between Rp
\n1.4 trillion and Rp 1.5 trillion.<\/p>\n
\"They are good earnings,\" said Sjed Al-Idid, an analyst with
\nING in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Telkom shares were up 1.3 percent in the afternoon session at
\nRp 4,050, rebounding from a low of Rp 3,975 hit earlier as the
\nmarket worried Telkom would book a lower net profit.<\/p>\n
ING's Al-Idid said he is still recommending investors buy
\nshares in Telkom given its sound fundamentals and promising
\ngrowth outlook.<\/p>\n
Telkom's total revenue during the quarter grew 34 percent to
\nRp 5.945 trillion from Rp 4.431 trillion last year.<\/p>\n
Telkom said its fixed phone revenue, which accounted for 34
\npercent of total revenue, jumped 21 percent to Rp 2.007 trillion
\nfrom Rp 1.664 trillion last year.<\/p>\n
Higher fixed phone revenue came on the back of an increase in
\naverage fixed phone revenue per user, or ARPU, to Rp 173,384 per
\nmonth from Rp 144,344.<\/p>\n
As of March 31, Telkom had 7.82 million fixed telephone lines.<\/p>\n
Telkom said revenue from its cellular services contributed
\n30.2 percent to total revenue, thanks to a higher contribution
\nfrom its leading cellular unit, PT Telekomunikasi Selular
\nIndonesia, or Telkomsel.<\/p>\n
In the first quarter, Telkomsel booked revenue of Rp 2.319
\ntrillion, up 52 percent from Rp 1.524 trillion last year. Its net
\nprofit leapt 51 percent to Rp 1.266 trillion from Rp 840.49
\nbillion during the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Telkomsel's subscribers rose 77 percent to 6.6 million people
\nfrom 3.732 million last year.<\/p>\n
During the first quarter of this year, Telkomsel invested
\nIDR1.173 trillion to build base transceiver stations in Indonesia
\nto support its cellular network.<\/p>\n
Telkom has a 65 percent stake in Telkomsel, while the rest is
\nowned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.<\/p>\n
Analysts said Telkomsel will become a key earner for Telkom in
\nthe future given Indonesia's low cellular market penetration.<\/p>\n
Only around 6 percent of Indonesia's 220 million population
\nhave cell phones, allowing huge room for growth in coming years.
\nAnalysts forecast the number of cellular customers will grow to
\naround 15 million next year from around 12 million currently.<\/p>\n
\"Given its promising growth, Telkomsel will become the main
\ndriver for Telkom's revenue in the coming years,\" said Bernardus
\nIrawan, head of the equity sales at Mandiri Sekuritas.<\/p>\n
The government has a 51.19 percent stake in Telkom, while the
\nrest is owned by the public.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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