Most Telkom units posted losses in 2001

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom announced on Wednesday that 17 of its subsidiaries suffered losses last year, with the remaining two posting considerable profits.

"Of the total subsidiaries, two managed to record profits," Telkom's finance director Mursyid Amal was quoted as saying by Antara.

Without mentioning the exact figures, Mursyid claimed that the losses were mainly caused by ballooning expenditure resulting from huge depreciation suffered by the rupiah against the US dollar after the 1997-1998 financial crisis.

He did not elaborate.

Among the loss-making subsidiaries were PT Komselindo, PT Mobilsel, PT Metrosel, PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), and PT Metropolitan Multi Media.

The country's largest cellular operator, PT Telkomsel, and multi-media firm PT Infomedia Nusantara were the ones that produced revenue for Telkom.

Telkomsel, which controls 46 percent of the country's cellular market and had 3.25 million subscribers as of 2001, posted Rp 2.044 trillion (around US$ 217 million) in profit.

Infomedia booked a profit of some Rp 31 billion.

Mursyid continued that efforts to improve the performance of the 17 subsidiaries would be made immediately, so as to avoid further losses.

Those categorized as being in line with Telkom core businesses would be maintained.

As for the remaining firms, Mursyid did not rule out the possibility of them being sold, although he acknowledged that it was only an option and that selling off companies in financial difficulty would raise little market interest.

Telkom also confirmed that it would issue bonds worth Rp 1 trillion to Rp 1.5 trillion ($ 100 million to $ 150 million) to help finance expansion programs.