Rupiah's sharp depreciation affects Telkom's net profit
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned domestic telecommunications operator PT Telkom reported yesterday a slower growth in its net profit in the third quarter of this year due to the sharp deprecation of the rupiah against the dollar since last July.
The company announced that its net profit rose less than 0.1 percent to Rp 1.126 trillion in the 1997 January to September period from Rp 1.125 trillion in last year's corresponding period.
Telkom said that its earning per share was Rp 120.7 (74 U.S. cents per American Depository Share, ADS).
"The low growth in net income was caused mainly by foreign exchange losses which amounted to Rp 146.1 billion (US$44.6 million) resulting from the 37.4 percent depreciation of the rupiah between December 1996 and September 1997," the company said.
"Currency losses have been fully booked by Telkom for the period and an additional amount of Rp 88.7 billion ($27.1 million) has been capitalized for construction in progress."
In comparison, during the 1996 January to September period, Telkom's net profit reached Rp 1.125 trillion, up by 28.91 percent over the same period in 1995. Its operating income rose to Rp 3.69 trillion in the third quarter of 1996, an increase of 15.8 percent over 1995. Telkom's earnings per share increased to Rp 120.59 in the first nine months of last year from Rp 104.58 in the previous year, while earnings per ADS rose to $1.03 from 92 cents.
Telkom said yesterday its operating revenue grew by 18.5 percent to Rp 4.38 trillion in the third quarter of this year.
"The increase in operating revenues was largely attributed to the company's continued growth in the number of lines in service, growth in pulse production, growth of revenue from joint operation (KSO) schemes and increased interconnection revenue with other telecommunications operators.
Telephone usage measured in pulses during the nine months of 1997 (excluding pay phones and cellular phones) increased 18.8 percent to 30.8 billion pulses, 17.4 billion out of which came from the Telkom regions of the greater Jakarta area and East Java.
During the same period, the company added 569,572 lines, a 9.4 percent drop from the 628,447 additional lines installed in the same period in 1996.
As of Sept. 30, Telkom has 4.7 million lines in service, a 21.3 percent increase over last year.
The number of lines in service consist of 2.6 million in two regions controlled by the company and 2.1 million in five regions controlled by private companies under a 15 year contract with Telkom until 2010. The number of subscribers increased by 21.1 percent to 4.6 million compared to 3.8 million a year ago, while lines per 100 inhabitants increased to 2.4 from 1.9.
Telkom is listed on the Jakarta, Surabaya, London and New York stock exchanges.
The company said the government is expected to introduce a new call tariff structure by next January. Telkom expects tariffs to be more beneficial both for the company as well as subscribers.
Cellular
Telkom also reported yesterday that as of Sept. 30, the total number of cellular users in Indonesia was 1,041,467.
"The market leader now has shifted from PT Satelindo to PT Telkomsel with a total of 372,698 users."
Telkom, which partly controls each of the seven cellular operators in Indonesia, has a 42.72 percent share in Telkomsel and a 22.5 percent share in Satelindo. (icn)
Operator Q III 1996 Q III 1997 Growth (%)
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Excelcomindo (GSM) - 111,989 -
Komselindo (AMPS) 90,958 114,000 25.33
Metrosel (AMPS) 22,102 37,178 68.21
Mobisel (NMT) 22,907 30,847 34.66
Satelindo (GSM) 190,000 368,113 93.74
Telesera (AMPS) 6,158 6,642 7.86
Telkomsel (GSM) 130,682 372,698 185.19
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Total 462,807 1,041,467 125.03 (average)
Source: Telkom