Telkom's net profit rises 28%

Telkom's net profit rises 28%

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned domestic telecommunications provider
PT Telkom reported yesterday its net profit reached US$481
million in the January to September period this year, a 28.91
percent increase from the same period of 1995.

The company said its operating income rose to $664 million in
the third quarter of this year, an increase of 15.8 percent from
the same period last year.

"The increase was largely attributed to Telkom's continued
growth in the number of lines in service and corresponding
increased call volume on the fixed line network," the company
said.

Telkom's earnings per share increased to Rp 120.59 in the
first nine months of this year from Rp 104.58 in the first nine
months of 1995, while earnings per American Depository Share rose
to $1.03 from 92 cents.

The company reported that the number of installed telephone
lines (including public phones and pay phones) reached 3,919,301
as of Sept. 30, a 31.7 percent increase from 2,974,442 as of
1995.

Out of the total lines, 2.06 million lines in the greater
Jakarta area and East Java are managed by Telkom, while the
remainder in other areas of the country are managed by five
private firms under a 15-year contract with Telkom.

The company said call traffic rose by 28.1 percent to 25.93
billion pulses in the first nine-month period of this year from
20.24 billion in the same period last year.

The company reported that the major contributor to improved
call traffic had been the improvement in successful call ratio
(SCR) with both local and long-distance figures which improved
from 54.09 percent to 57.51 percent and 45.77 percent to 51.84
percent respectively.

Telkom is listed on the Jakarta, Surabaya, London and New York
stock exchanges. Telkom's shares closed unchanged yesterday at Rp
3,950 on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

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.
(icn)