Indosat reports higher first quarter earnings

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned telecommunications company PT Indosat reported on Wednesday a 24.1 percent increase in unaudited earnings to Rp 538.5 billion (US$49.86 million) during the first quarter of 2001 compared to the same period last year.

Earnings per share were at Rp 520 or US 50 cents per American Depository Shares, the company said in its first quarter report.

Indosat's total international telephone traffic between January and March this year was 164.1 million minutes, an increase of 2.8 percent from 159.6 million minutes last year.

"The overall macroeconomic condition and political instability have been the most influential factors affecting the company's business performance and the results of our operations," Indosat president Hari Kartana said in a statement.

He added that despite this, the international direct dial (IDD) business in Indonesia was still surviving. IDD traffic between January and March increased 2.8 percent from the corresponding quarter last year, he said.

Global corporate services also saw significant growth this quarter, with a 38.3 percent increase in revenue and a 23.2 percent gain in customer number.

The company's multimedia services recorded a consistent growth of 59.6 percent in revenue during the first three months of the year, which bodes well for the future of these services, Hari said.

In non-IDD businesses, high-speed leased-line services grew to 1,132 lines as of March 31 compared to 919 lines at the end of 2000, an increase of 23.2 percent.

The customer base of Indosat's internet service provider, IndosatNet, increased 2.2 percent to 44,799 retail subscribers as of March 31 this year, compared to 43,820 retail subscribers at the end of last year.

The company saw outgoing cellular traffic increase to 13.7 million minutes between January and March 2001, compared to 11.8 million minutes during the same period last year.

As of the end of March 2001, the international links bandwidth was at 773.2 megabit per second consisting of 80.5 percent submarine cable circuits and 19.5 percent satellite circuits.

For the Indosat Multi-Media Mobile, the company expects to complete the rollout of more than 500 base transceiver stations covering nine major cities in the third quarter of 2001.

These nine cities are Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Malang, Denpasar and Batam, Indosat executive vice president Garuda Sugardo said in the statement.

The company's consolidated operating revenue between January and March increased to Rp 730.1 billion from Rp 710.8 billion last year, he said.

Indosat's shares are listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges, and its American Depository Shares are listed on The New York Stock Exchange. (tnt)