Indosat plans to sell its Cambodian unit

Indosat plans to sell its Cambodian unit

Publicly-listed telecommunications company PT Indosat plans to
sell its 49 percent stake in Cambodian Indosat Telecommunications
SA, or Camintel, a company official said on Monday.

The government of Cambodia has the remaining 51 percent stake.

"We are offering the entire stake in the unit, and hope that
the sale can be completed this year," Indosat's spokesman Wahid
Sutopo said.

He said the company had not yet received any bids for the
unit.

Indosat has been trying to focus its business on
telecommunication after it merged its two cellular units PT
Satelindo and PT Indosat Mobile Multi Media (IM3) last year into
the main body of the company. The company also integrates its
telecommunications operator PT Bimagraha Telekomindo. The
integration process is scheduled to be concluded in 2005.

Indosat president Widya Purnama told the press last week that
the company planned to sell its 97 percent stake in an
information technology unit PT Sisindosat Lintasbuana.

Wahid did not say how much the company expected to raise from
the sale of the stakes in the two units.

Analysts said the sale of the two units was not significant to
Indosat's performance due to the low valuation of the units.

Singapore Technologies Telemedia has a 42 percent stake in
Indosat, Indonesia's second largest telecommunications company.

Analysts said the merger and the planned sale of some units
were part of Indosat's efforts to catch up with its arch rival,
PT Telkom particularly in the cellular business.

They said Indosat was lagging behind in developing its
cellular business because of its huge debt, which prevented the
company from allocating adequate investment for its
telecommunication facilities.

Indosat is also facing increased competitive pressure with the
entry of Telkom into its international direct dialing market. --
Dow Jones