Telkomsel works with Pos for expansion

Telkomsel works with Pos for expansion

Bloomberg, Jakarta

PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel), the nation's biggest mobile-phone operator, will cooperate with the state postal service to expand network in Indonesia's remote provinces and boost its user base by 30 percent next year.

Telkomsel plans to build base transceiver stations in every branch of PT Pos Indonesia, Telkomsel President Kiskenda Suriahardja, told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.

"We will penetrate into remote areas across Indonesia using PT Pos's extensive network," he said after signing an agreement to build the stations with Pos. He declined to say how much the company will spend on the plan.

Jakarta-based Telkomsel, 51 percent owned by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), said on Sept. 16 it plans to spend US$850 million next year, 21 percent more than its earlier estimate, to expand its network and add customers as competition increases.

Telkomsel, which offers stored-value cards and the option of monthly bills, has trimmed prices and sold cheaper cards to first-time users to gain more customers in a country where half of the 220 million people live on less than $2 a day. Fewer than one in four Indonesians has phone access.

The company is expanding outside the main island of Java, where mobile usage is low, to lure new users, Kiskenda said.

Telkomsel has 24 million subscribers, he said, 47 percent higher than last year. The company had a 54 percent market share as of September.

The nation's cell-phone users may double to 90 million in five years, placing the country among the four largest mobile-phone markets in Asia, Hasnul Suhaimi, president of PT Indosat, Telkomsel's smaller rival, said on Nov. 24.