S&P raises Telkom, Indosat's ratings

S&P raises Telkom, Indosat's ratings

JAKARTA: PT Telkom, the nation's biggest telephone company,
and rival PT Indosat had their foreign-currency debt ratings
raised by Standard & Poor's, which cited growth prospects and
political stability.

Telkom's and its mobile-phone unit PT Telkomsel's ratings were
raised two levels to BB+. PT Indosat's debt rating was raised one
step to BB, the ratings company said in a release. Indonesia is
rated B+. All are junk ratings.

The ratings were raised after S&P increased Indonesia's
transfer and convertibility risk assessment to BB+, three levels
above the Southeast Asian nation's sovereign rating. The risk
assessment shows if a government would restrict access to the
foreign exchange needed to service debt, S&P said in the
statement.

"Despite the varying degree of government ownership in these
companies, there has been a track record of limited intervention
by government," Yasmin Wirjawan, an analyst with S&P, said in the
statement. "Standard & Poor's expects the government to continue
to refrain from intervention in view of the competitive nature of
the telecommunication industry." -- Bloomberg