PT Indosat reports 21.5 percent growth in net income 1999

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed PT Indosat, the state-owned international telecommunications provider, reported on Tuesday a 21.5 percent increase in net income to Rp 1.39 trillion (about US$195.77 million) in 1999 from Rp 1.14 trillion in 1998.

Indosat president Indra Setiawan said the company's international call traffic dropped by 9.2 percent to 644.7 million minutes last year from 710.4 million minutes in 1998.

He said the increase in international calling rates in November 1998 resulted in higher revenue last year despite the fall in call traffic.

The company's 1999 unaudited consolidated financial results showed a 29.5 percent increase in operating revenue to Rp 2.73 trillion from Rp 2.10 trillion in 1998.

Earnings per share were Rp 1,341, or $1.9 per American Depository Share based on an exchange rate of Rp 7,100 to the dollar.

Indra said he hoped international call traffic would begin to increase this year along with signs of recovery in some business sectors.

"Business activity in Indonesia started to recover as political stability improved following the election of Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Soekarnoputri as president and vice president in October," he said.

Indra said Indosat, which is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, would develop into a fully integrated telecommunications service provider in anticipation of the liberalization of the country's telecommunications sector.

He said Indosat may develop four business vehicles which would position the company as a major provider of network, mobile, Internet and multimedia services, using a common platform utilizing Internet Protocol-based technology.

According to the new telecommunications law, Indosat and its joint venture company PT Satelindo will lose their exclusive rights to provide international telecommunications services when their current contracts end in 2005.

Indosat executive vice president for marketing Bambang Sulistyo said the company's international telephone market share was around 84 percent last year, with its fixed users market share stable at around 91 percent and its cellular users market share at 76.3 percent.

He said traffic from cellular users increased by 44 percent from 28.2 million minutes in 1998 to 40.6 million minutes in 1999, contributing about 14.2 percent of outgoing traffic volume. (hen)