Excelcomindo secures $400m for expansion

Excelcomindo secures $400m for expansion

JAKARTA (JP): PT Excelcomindo Pratama, which operates the GSM-
XL cellular system, will sign an agreement in Bali today for a
US$400 million syndicated loan from 22 overseas banks.

A senior Excelcomindo executive said Wednesday the loan would
be arranged by Sakura Finance Asia Ltd, ING Barings, ANZ
Investment Bank and Chase Manhattan Asia Ltd.

"The loan agreement is scheduled to be signed by
Excelcomindo's president, Y.W. Junardy, and the participating
banks," he said.

The loan would be used to finance Excelcomindo's expansion
plan which includes new information technology and human
resources development, he said.

Excelcomindo is the youngest of Indonesia's three global
system for mobile communications (GSM) operators. The other two
are PT Telkomsel and PT Satelindo.

Excelcomindo, which recently expanded its service to Bali and
Lombok in its plan to go national, is a joint-venture company
owned by Nynex Corp. of the United States (23.1 percent), Mitsui
of Japan (4.2 percent), the Asian Infrastructure Fund (12.7
percent) and Indonesia's PT Telekomindo Prima Bhakti (60
percent).

Excelcomindo plans to start serving Surakarta and Semarang,
Central Java, and Yogyakarta in June and Medan, North Sumatra, in
September.

The company, which began operating in late 1996, has 65,000
customers in Greater Jakarta, West Java and East Java.

The company has signed roaming service agreements with 28
overseas operators in 20 nations. GSM-XL subscribers can now use
their handsets in Australia, Britain, Hong Kong, Thailand,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore and some European
countries. (icn)