Satelindo may get $248m in revenue
JAKARTA (JP): PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo), a telecommunications operator, expects to gain Rp 584.5 billion (US$248 million) in revenue this year from its business of satellites, international telephone calls and digital cellular telephones.
The company's president, Iwa Sewaka, said after meeting with Vice President Try Sutrisno yesterday that Satelindo estimates a net profit of Rp 55 billion ($23.33 million)) in 1996.
"Of the projected profit, Rp 30.35 billion is expected from cellular telephone services, Rp 20.2 billion from satellite transponder leasing and Rp 4.45 billion from international telecommunications services," he said.
During the meeting with Try, Iwa was accompanied by Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave, Satelindo's chief commissioner Fuad Bawazier, who is also director general of taxes, and Satelindo commissioner Bambang Trihatmodjo, who is also a son of President Soeharto.
Satelindo, set up in January 1993, is one of the private companies in the country that is licensed by the government to run satellite telecommunications services. The company is owner and operator of Palapa C-1 and C-2 satellites.
The company, which in 1994 obtained the license to run the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) telephones, targets to increase the number of its GSM subscribers from 150,000 at present to 850,000 by 1998.
In addition to Satelindo, Indonesia has PT Telkomsel and PT Excelcomindo to operate GSM cellular telephones.
Satelindo is owned 22.5 percent by state-owned domestic telecommunications company PT Telkom, 7.5 percent by state-owned international telecommunications company PT Indosat, 45 percent by PT Bimagraha Telekomindo and 25 percent by DeTeMobil of Germany.
According to Iwa, Satelindo's total assets are estimated at Rp 2.15 trillion this year, comprising Rp 1.44 trillion in equity and the remainder in liabilities.
He said that his company has invested $397.5 million in the satellite business, $490 million for cellular telecommunications networks and $22.45 million for international telephone services. (icn)