Satelindo gets $230m loan from U.S. bank
Satelindo gets $230m loan from U.S. bank
JAKARTA (JP): Private telecommunications provider PT Satelindo has secured a loan of US$230 million from the Export Import Bank of the United States to expand its operations.
Satelindo president Iwa Sewaka said on Tuesday that the company would receive the funds gradually, as required by its business expansion programs.
"We decided to seek the loan after canceling our plan to issue debt instruments to generate additional funds required to finance our expansion project," he said.
Iwa said in June that, before the end of this year, Satelindo would issue debt instruments worth some $500 million to support its expansion and to prepare itself to enter overseas stock markets.
He said yesterday that, because many telecommunications firms, including the state-owned PT Telkom, had recently launched public offerings on the international stock market, Satelindo might not issue debt instruments or shares until the end of next year.
Satelindo is 45 percent owned by PT Bimagraha Telekomindo, 22.5 percent by Telkom, 7.5 percent by PT Indosat and 25 percent by DeTeMobil of Germany. Satelindo raised $586 million in March from the sale of a 25-percent stake to DeTeMobil.
Satelindo, established in 1993, runs a global system for mobile (GSM) communication network and international telecommunications using the Palapa-C satellites.
According to Iwa, the U.S. Export Import Bank has already extended $100 million to his company for the launching of Palapa- C1 from Cape Canaveral in the U.S. in January next year.
"The additional loan from the Export Import Bank will range between $50 million and $230 million with a maturity of seven to nine years," he said, adding that Germany's KfW and France's Paribas had also agreed to extend loans to the company.
He said that Satelindo's operating investments were likely to reach $800 million by 1998. "The investment will double to $1.6 billion within the following five years," he added.
He said that, as part of its business expansion, Satelindo will install 550,000 new GSM telephone lines, starting in 1996, with an investment of $250 million.
Satelindo has so far installed some 300,000 GSM lines, while the number of its subscribers is only 80,000 at present.
"We will add several gateways to improve our international call service. We also consider participating in regional telecommunications projects by acquiring shares of certain telecommunications firms or setting up joint operations," Iwa said. (icn)