Indosat's profilts rise by 59% to Rp 459b in 1995
Indosat's profilts rise by 59% to Rp 459b in 1995
JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned international telecommunications
company PT Indosat yesterday reported a 59 percent rise in its
net profit last year to Rp 459.4 billion (US$198.7 million) from
Rp 289 billion in 1994.
The company's president, Tjahjono Soerjodibroto, told a press
conference that Indosat's sales grew by 14.9 percent from Rp
909.3 billion in 1994 to Rp 1.04 trillion last year.
Indosat is listed on the New York and Jakarta stock exchanges.
According to Tjahjono, international telephone calls remained
its major source of revenue in 1995 in spite of the operation of
PT Satelindo, its only competitor in Indonesia.
"Revenues from international calls contributed Rp 964.4
billion or 92.3 percent of Indosat's total operating revenue," he
said.
He said that the volume of last year's international calls
increased by 15.3 percent to 492.5 million minutes from 427.2
million minutes in 1994.
However, last year's 15.3 percent growth in international
calls was far lower than the 20.7 percent recorded in 1994, he
said.
International calls totaled 353.8 million minutes in 1993.
Tjahjono said that out of the international calls in 1995,
285.9 million minutes were incoming calls (indicating an increase
of 16.8 percent), while 206.6 million minutes were outgoing calls
(an increase of 13.2 percent).
"The slower growth rate in outgoing calls showed that Indosat
faced competition from Satelindo, which gained a market share of
3.7 percent," he said.
Tjahjono said that Indosat's operational expenses rose just
5.5 percent to Rp 545.4 billion in 1995 from Rp 516.8 billion in
1994.
New projects
Tjahjono also said that to increase the number of customers
for its international service, Indosat planned to improve its
promotions.
Indosat currently lists some 352,000 customers on its
international call service.
He said that Indosat last year installed 1,281 international
circuits, bringing the total number of its international circuits
to 5,774.
"Indosat has also set up new gateways and telephone network
distribution centers, as well as satellite ground stations in
Surabaya, East Java, at Pantai Cermin, North Sumatra, and in
Batam, Riau, to cope with increasing demand," he said, adding
that a submarine cable linking the Jakarta and Surabaya gateways
would be ready for service this year.
He said that Indosat would also start separating its billing
system from that of the state-owned domestic telecommunications
firm PT Telkom.
"As a first step, we will start in Bandung, West Java, as a
pilot project. The system will be introduced later in Jakarta,
Medan and Surabaya," he said.
He said Indosat would also start Internet services in the
first quarter of this year.
Tjahjono said Indosat purchased a 0.11 percent stake in Astel,
the second largest personal handy phone provider in Japan.
Personal handy phones are a kind of wireless telephone system
using high frequencies,
He said that Indosat, through one of its subsidiaries PT
Sisindosat, had acquired a 20 percent stake in USA Global Link, a
telecoms provider in the United States which provides various
telecommunication serves.
"The acquisition would generate a synergy in tapping the fast
growing and changing nature of the future telecommunications
industry," he said.
Tjahjono said that his company had also participated in
Acasia, a strategic alliance among telecommunications firm in
Southeast Asian nations.
Acasia will start integrated international telecommunications
service later this year, he said.
He said Indosat also planned to enter the cable manufacturing
business after obtaining government approval late last year.
(icn)