Telkom's Q1 net profit jumps 46%

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned domestic telecommunications firm PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) announced on Monday that first quarter net profit soared by 46 percent, mainly driven by its cellular unit.

The publicly listed company said net profit in the first three months of the year was Rp 1.5 trillion (about US$165 million) compared to Rp 1.03 trillion in the same period last year.

It said that total revenue in the January-March period increased by 30 percent to Rp 4.43 trillion from Rp 3.41 trillion.

Telkom said its cellular unit PT Telkomsel had revenue of Rp 1.52 trillion in the first quarter, a 69.3 percent increase from the same period last year.

Telkomsel is the country's largest cellular operator with some 3.73 million subscribers as of the end of March compared to 1.93 million last year.

Telkom has a 65 percent stake in the company.

Telkom's core business, fixed lines, had revenue of Rp 1.66 trillion rupiah in the first quarter, up 20.11 percent compared to Rp 1.38 trillion in the same period last year.

The company's total number of installed lines as of March 31 grew 5.84 percent to 8.1 million, while total lines in service grew 8.2 percent to 7.32 million.

Telkom said it had spent Rp 344.85 billion in the first quarter of this year of the total budget of Rp 3.2 trillion for 2002. The capital expenditure was mostly for telecommunications equipment.

Telkom also reaffirmed it would issue Rp 1 trillion in five- year bonds in July. The proceeds will mostly used to finance an expansion program.

The offering period is July 1 to July 3 and the bonds will be listed on July 12 on the local bourse with fixed and or floating interest rates.

Telkom shares ended 0.6 percent higher on Monday at Rp 4,075.