Excelcomindo's profit falls by 46 percent

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Excelcomindo Pratama, the country's third-largest mobile phone operator, said on Wednesday that its 2003 audited net profit dropped by 46 percent compared with the year before, due to rising operational costs.

The company said that net profit last year declined to Rp 400.72 billion (US$47.14 million) from Rp 743.29 billion in 2002.

The company was quoted by Dow Jones as saying that although revenue from cellular operations increased by 4.9 percent, operating expenses rose by 19 percent.

It said that revenue last year rose to Rp 2.59 trillion from Rp 2.47 trillion, while operating expenses increased to Rp 1.65 trillion from Rp 1.39 trillion. The expenses included depreciation, administration and salary costs.

As of Dec. 31, 2003, the company's total assets stood at Rp 5.54 trillion, compared with Rp 4.75 trillion for the previous year. Its current liabilities stood at Rp 1.09 trillion, compared with Rp 879.95 billion.

Excelcomindo holds 16 percent of the domestic cellular market in Indonesia. As of 2003, it had 2.9 million subscribers to ProXL, its mobile service. That is expected to rise to 4 million this year.

The company says it plans to go public later this year by selling shares via an initial public offering.

There have also been reports that top regional telecom players, including Australia's Telstra Corp., Telekom Malaysia and a China-based telecom firm, are interested in buying a stake in Excelcomindo from its owners.

The unlisted Excelcomindo is controlled by PT Telekomindo Primabhakti, with a 60 percent stake. The rest is controlled by Nynex Indocel Holding Sdu. with a 23.1 percent shareholding, Asia Infrastructure Fund Ltd. (12.7 percent) and Japan's Mitsui & Co. (4.2 percent).

It has been a trend of late for international players to enter Indonesia to get in on the fast-growing mobile services sector.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, or Singtel, has purchased a 35 percent stake in PT Telkomsel, the largest cellular phone operator in Indonesia, with 65 percent of the market share.

In addition, Singapore Technologies Telemedia has acquired a controlling stake in PT Indosat, which provides services under the brand names Satelindo and IM3.