Indosat reports Rp 1.19t net income in third quarter

JAKARTA (JP): PT Indosat announced on Wednesday an unaudited consolidated net income of Rp 1.19 trillion (US$170 million) for the first nine months of the year ending Sept. 30.

The publicly listed international telecommunications provider said the net profit figure represented a 36.5 percent increase over the corresponding period in 1998.

Indosat president and chief executive officer Indra Setiawan said the country's lengthened political agendas from the general election in June to the presidential election in October still affected the company, causing a slow down in its core business of international telephone line service.

"However, we notice a positive trend in incoming traffic. We also identified a consistent growth of data communications, such as high-speed leased lines and internet access services," he said.

He said Indosat was promoting the development of its data communications businesses to support the company's business plan to switch to a full telecommunications provider rather than just an international direct dial provider.

Indosat's international telephone traffic declined 10.8 percent to 485.1 million minutes in the first nine months of this year from 543.6 million in the corresponding period last year.

Outgoing and incoming telephone traffic volume for the first nine months of this year amounted to 215.3 million minutes and 269.8 million minutes respectively, down 11.8 percent and 9.9 percent from the same period last year.

Indosat executive vice president for operations and engineering Achmad Rivai said the company's consolidated operating revenues increased by 35.8 percent to Rp 2.08 trillion in the first nine months of 1999 from Rp 1.53 trillion in the corresponding period of last year.

He said international telephone service, the main contributor to Indosat's operating revenues, brought in Rp 1.76 trillion for the nine months ended Sept. 30 this year, up 39.6 percent from Rp 1.26 trillion it produced in the same period last year.

Indosat also saw an increase of 24.7 percent in other telecommunications services as a result of the rise in revenues derived from global corporate services and internet service, he added.

Company executive vice president for corporate development Safwan Natanegara said Indosat managed to generate other total income of Rp 430 billion, mainly from interest and investment incomes.

Indosat has at least 26 subsidiaries and affiliated companies here and abroad operating in fixed line, mobile telecommunications, satellite transponder leasing, international telecommunications, value added services and other sectors.

Indosat received Rp 20.5 billion in dividends from its international satellite transponder lessor affiliates, Intelsat and Inmarsat.

From its subsidiaries, Indosat earned a net equity income of Rp 173 billion from local cellular network provider Telkomsel, Rp 56.6 billion from its fixed-line provider and Telkom's KSO partner, Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Rp 14.8 billion from its packed switched data network, VSAT and e-mail service provider, Aplikanusa Lintasarta, and Rp 3.5 billion from local satellite transponder lessor joint venture Multi Media Asia Indonesia.

Indosat, however, experienced investment losses of Rp 69.9 billion from some of its affiliates, in addition to the Rp 6.1 billion in investment losses from subsidiaries Cambodian Indosat Telecommunication S.A., a telecommunications joint venture firm in Cambodia, and Yasawirya Tama Cipta, a local joint venture in multimedia production.

Over the period, the company recorded earnings of Rp 1,149 or $1.40 per American Depository Share (ADS) using the closing exchange rate of Rp 8,386 per U.S. dollar as quoted by Bank Indonesia on Sept. 30, 1999.

Indosat's shares are listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock Exchanges, while its American Depositary Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (cst)