Telkom reports 19.46% increase in H1 earnings

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom announced on Thursday a 19.46 percent increase in consolidated net income to Rp 1.7 trillion (US$196.6 million) for the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2000.

The company said in a statement that earnings per share was Rp 170.69, or Rp 3,413.71 earnings per American Depository Share (ADS).

Total operating revenue jumped by 31.13 percent to Rp 7.4 trillion in the first half of 2001 from Rp 5.6 trillion in the same period the previous year.

Meanwhile total operating expenses surged by 34.46 percent to Rp 3.7 trillion between January and June this year compared to the same period of last year, the company said.

Telkom said that operating income increased to Rp 3.6 trillion in the first half of this year compared to Rp 2.8 trillion in the same period last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the first half of 2001 increased by 25.38 percent to Rp 4.98 trillion compared to Rp 3.97 trillion in the first half of last year.

Telkom said that long-term debt as of June 30 totaled the equivalent of Rp 13 trillion, of which 32.16 percent was in rupiah and 67.84 percent in foreign currencies.

In the first half of 2001, the company spent Rp 900 billion on capital expenditures, of which about Rp 287 billion was spent on infrastructure development, Rp 454 billion for phone, mobile, view and Internet services (PMVIS) and Rp 159 billion for supporting facilities.

As of June 30, 2001, Telkom and its joint operation (KSO) units operated 6.9 million fixed lines in service, consisting of 3.8 million lines in service in Telkom regions and 3.1 million lines in KSO regions.

Net additional lines in service between January and June this year were 265,598 lines, 8.93 percent higher than the 243,817 net additional lines in service during the same period last year.

Some 79,938 subscribers canceled their phone connections during the first half of the year, a decrease of 17.89 percent compared to the comparable period last year.

Active cellular subscribers as of June 30, 2001 totaled 4.7 million, or a hefty 71 percent increase from last year's 2.7 million.

Cellular companies Telkomsel recorded 2.2 million subscribers, Satelindo 1.4 million subscribers, Komselindo 51,300 subscribers, Excelcomindo 925,000 subscribers, Mobisel 11,809 subscribers, Metrosel 74,760 subscribers and Telesera 8,852 subscribers.

Telkom reported that as of July the elimination of cross ownerships between the company and state-owned telecommunications company PT Indosat had resulted in a 35 percent purchase of Telkomsel, and sales of 37.66 percent of PT Aplikanusa Lintasarta and 22.5 percent of Satelindo to Indosat.

During this period the company also acquired 90.32 percent of PT Dayamitra Telekomunikasi, 100 percent ownership of PT Graha Sarana Duta and sold its 25 percent ownership in PT Tangara Mitrakom.

On July 9, 2001, Telkom terminated its cooperation with PT AriaWest International -- its KSO partner for West Java and Banten -- on the grounds that AriaWest had failed to fulfill its obligations, including paying minimum Telkom revenue (MTR) for the past 14 months, totaling Rp 509 billion.(tnt)