Indosat sets aside $200m

Indosat sets aside $200m

JAKARTA: PT Indosat, Indonesia's second-largest phone company, says it will spend $200 million next year to expand its network and the subscriber base of its StarOne service fivefold.

The network will cover 22 cities compared with six at present, director Wahyu Wijayadi said on Tuesday, without disclosing how the company intends to finance the plan. Indosat, which spent Rp 230 billion (US$23 million) in the first half, aims to have as many as 1 million StarOne subscribers next year from 213,000 as of September, he said.

Indosat said it began offering long-distance call services in six cities, a month after reaching an agreement with Telekomunikasi on allowing users to connect across the two networks.

Indosat users can make long-distance calls to cities including capital Jakarta, Medan in North Sumatra, Surabaya in East java, and Denpasar in Bali, Wijayadi said. -- Bloomberg