Indosat profit up 80%

Indosat profit up 80%

Telecommunications company PT Indosat announced on Monday a
nearly 80 percent increase in its first semester net profit
compared to the same period last year thanks to strong revenue
growth in its cellular division.

The publicly listed company said that net profit jumped to Rp
717.60 billion (US$78 million) compared to Rp 402.10 billion
previously as revenue from the cellular division surged by 51
percent.

From January to June, Indosat expanded the number of its
cellular service subscribers to 7.35 million, or a 70.5 percent
increase compared to the same period last year, boosting revenue
to Rp 3.37 trillion from Rp 2.23 trillion.

The jump in profit was also contributed to by a 17.8 percent
increase in the multimedia, data communication and internet
divisions. However, the first semester saw a 4.2 percent drop in
the international call division, and a 29.3 percent dip in other
divisions.

In anticipating increased cellular service demand in the first
semester, Indosat launched various marketing and promotion
programs for Matrix-9 (no roaming or subscriber fees for post-
paid services), and holiday packages for Mentari and IM3, and
launched its fixed wireless access "Star One" service.

Indosat, which is 41.94 percent owned by Singapore-based
Temasek Holdings via ST Telemedia, also plans to allocate up to
$700 million for capital investment this year, 80 percent of
which will be allocated to its cellular business. -- JP