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PT Mobile-8 Telecom (Mobitel) will issue 3.9 billion shares
on the Jakarta Stock Exchange later next month to raise fresh funds for
financing the expansion of its Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)-based wireless telecommunication networks throughout the country.
"Mobitel is committed to increasing its mobile telephone capacity to
6.9 million in Java, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Lombok,"
said Orias Petrus Moedak, a director of PT Danareksa Sekuritas, which
will underwrite the initial public offering from Nov. 22 to 24.
Investors will welcome the share issue because telecommunications is a
growing industry and Indonesia still has a potential market of at least
100 million subscribers for CDMA-based cellular telephones, Moedak
added.
The International Telecommunication Union estimated in a recent study
that with a cellular telephone penetration of a mere 21.1 percent (of
220 million people), the mobile telephone market in Indonesia is still
very young, offering Mobitel big opportunities to expand its Fren
mobile telephone.
After the IPO, Mobitel, which has raised its paid up capital to more
than Rp 1 trillion (US$107.5 million), will be 19.91 percent owned by
the investing public, 60.76 percent by Bimantara, 6.03 percent by Asia
Link, 5.17 percent by Qualcomm with the remaining shares held by
several other institutional investors.
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