Government denies further sale of Telkom shares

Government denies further sale of Telkom shares

JAKARTA (JP): The government denied yesterday it would further
divest its shares in PT Telkomunikasi Indonesia (PT Telkom).

Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria
Purawidjaja said here yesterday the government had no plans to
sell its Telkom shares through stock markets or private
placement.

Rumors that Singapore Telecom had tied up with Telkom spread
at local stock exchanges Thursday.

There were also rumors that Telkom would launch a second
public offering by the third quarter this year, to raise up to
US$1 billion.

"There's no plan for a private placement, or one proposed by
Singapore Telecom," he said.

"Singapore Telecom is a shareholder of a private firm
cooperating with Telkom to develop telecommunications networks in
the eastern part of the country. That's all."

Djakaria refused to comment on the secondary offering plan.

Telkom made its domestic and overseas stock market debut in
November, 1995, when the government floated 9.33 billion shares,
about 20 percent of the company, simultaneously on the New York,
London, Jakarta and Surabaya stock markets.

The government sold another 388 million shares, about 4.15
percent, in December last year on the Jakarta and New York stock
markets.

The company raised Rp 2.3 trillion from the domestic offering
and $519.1 million from the overseas offering from the 1995
initial public offering (IPO).

Profit

Telkom reported yesterday a net profit of Rp 398.95 billion
($164.88 million) in the first quarter this year, 29.87 percent
more than in the 1996 first quarter.

It said its earnings per share were Rp 42.7 ($0.35 per
American Depository Receipt/ADR) in the first quarter in 1997
compared to Rp 32.91 last year.

Telkom said its operating profit rose to Rp 602.95 billion in
the 1997 first quarter, up 43.76 percent from last year.

In the same period last year, Telkom's net profit and
operating profit grew 57.12 percent and 31.97 percent,
respectively.

"The net income and operating income increases were largely
due to the company's continued expansion of the number of lines
in service (LIS) and the corresponding increased usage of the
fixed line network," Telkom said.

The company said that as of March 31, 1996, the company had
4.32 million telephone lines in service, 24.2 percent more than
the 3.47 million at the end of the 1996 first quarter. About
142,000 thousand of the 4.32 million lines are public phones.

LIS for every 100 people rose to 2.2 by March 1997, from 1.8
in the 1996 first quarter, the company said.

"There are 2.37 million LIS in Telkom regions (Greater Jakarta
and East Java) and 1.94 million in joint-operation (KSO) regions
(Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, Kalimantan and eastern
Indonesia), an increase of 30 percent and 17.9 percent
respectively compared to the 1996 first quarter."

"The number of subscribers increased 24.3 percent to 4.18
million from 3.36 million during the same period. The mix of
subscribers is approximately 23.8 percent business, 75.7 percent
residential (including government offices) and 0.4 percent
"social" subscribers (churches, mosques, and charities) in
Telkom's regions."

In KSO regions the mix is 19 percent business, 80.5 percent
residential and 0.54 percent social.

The company said its assets increased 14.2 percent to Rp 18.14
trillion as of March, while its long-term debt (including current
maturities) grew 12.7 percent to Rp 4.97 trillion and
stockholders' equity grew 20.1 percent to Rp 9.24 billion.

The company reported aggregate capital expenditure in the 1997
first quarter of Rp 743 billion. Rp 110.3 billion of this was
financed with IPO proceeds. About Rp 716.4 billion expanded
Telkom's fixed line network.

Telkom increased its exchange capacity by 85,022 lines to 6.43
million lines and added 106,913 installed lines for 5.92 million
lines in the 1997 first quarter.

Telkom's shares closed up Rp 50 at Rp 4,100 on the Jakarta
Stock Exchange yesterday. (icn)