Indosat's net income rises 22 percent
Indosat's net income rises 22 percent
JAKARTA (JP): PT Indonesian Satellite Corporation (Indosat)
announced yesterday a 22 percent increase in its consolidated net
income for 1997 to Rp 636.5 billion (US$136.9 million) from Rp
521.7 billion the previous year despite the country's monetary
crisis.
Company president Tjahjono Soerjodibroto contributed the
increase to the strong growth in telephone traffic and high speed
leased lines.
The company's earnings per share were Rp 6,146 or $1.30 per
American Depository Share, he said.
"This is the best that we can do with this recent monetary
turmoil," Tjahjono said.
Indosat's international telephone traffic increased to 683.9
million minutes last year from 576.6 million minutes in 1996.
The company also recorded strong growth in high speed leased
line service of 572 lines and telecast service last year, up
110,400 minutes over the previous year.
"Although the 1997 economy was in turmoil, the international
traffic pattern appears not to be affected," Tjahjono said.
Indosat's vice president for marketing said its market share
loss to competitors appeared to be slowing down.
"Our average market share from fixed lines in 1997 was 89.3
percent compared to 91.2 percent in 1996," Bambang said.
The company said its consolidated operating revenue last year
increased to Rp 1.45 trillion from Rp 1.22 trillion in 1996.
It contributed the increase to a 15.4 percent increase in
revenue from international telephone calls and a 56 percent
increase in other telecommunications services revenue, including
Rp 34.5 billion in revenue from its subsidiary Sisindosat.
The growth of telephone call revenue was lower than traffic
growth due to the impact of accounting rate reductions and lower
collection rates for Batam and Singapore border traffic and the
sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar, it
said.
Indosat maintained an average accounting rate reduction of
about 7 percent which affected only 1.4 percent of Indosat
revenue from telephone calls, the company said.
The company said its 1997 consolidated operational expenses
were Rp 763.5 billion, up 19.9 percent from 1996. It said
compensation payments to state-owned PT Telkom increased by 8.2
percent.
The company's vice president of finance and administration,
Herman Simandjuntak, said general and administration, other costs
of telecommunications and maintenance expenses, increased last
year, reflecting the rise in the number of circuits used and the
collapse of the rupiah.
Personnel expenses increased due to a personnel optimization
plan which would increase personnel productivity by 5 percent in
the future, he said.
"We have successfully maintained and controlled our revenue
growth to be more than our expenses growth for Indosat which
enables us to achieve an operational margin of about 45 to 50
percent for the full year of 1997," he said. (das)